Tie-Dye Bowls

With dramatic combinations of colors segueing into each other in soft, organic patterns, these bowls are a subtle reminder of Sedona’s ‘hippie’ heritage and a unique addition to any table.

Bringing a colorful statement which combines natural patterns with carefully crafted molds, each bowl is one of a kind, and created with my signature process.

Ecological art

These bowls are made with scraps and leftovers of glass, making them a sustainable aspect of my art – most recycling centers won’t process the bright colored glass I use. I also recycle any pieces that didn’t reach the finished stage: maybe they stuck to the shelf, were dropped at some stage of work, or they pulled into pieces during a slump firing. One of the great joys of glass art that very little is wasted, and unexpected outcomes provide creative fuel for new aspects of my work.

How the bowls are made

The melt pot kit that I use to create my tie-dye bowls consists of two 3″ posts, a support for the pot, and a set of 4 pots with different shapes and combinations of holes in the bottom of them. At the top of the page, you can see the loaded setup in my kiln before I shut the door and start the firing cycle.

Tye Dye Bowls – AMusinGlass from Last Starfighter on Vimeo.

Once the glass heats to melting point, the molten glass runs out of the bottom of the melt pot and creates a round disk centered below the pot on the kiln shelf. The size of the finished disk is determined by the amount of glass that is loaded into the pot.

One of the most fun parts of this how little control I have as the artist! I choose how I load the scraps into the pot and how I orient each color above the holes, but that’s about it – the glass melts and runs out of the pot in its own natural patterns. All I can do is experiment with how I load the pot, and then wait to see how that particular arrangement turns out.

My favorite melt pot has five holes arranged like the five spots on a die or domino and creates a unique quadrant pattern that I really love. I choose a combination of clear and colored glass in various combinations of transparent, opaque, and iridescent glass.