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Chronology of a Frit Painting

12/16/2015

I haven't posted a pictorial chronology of a frit painting in a very long while, so I decided to document a frit ornament of a client's ranch property in the Hill Country. From left to right:

First step is to build the background and cap it in clear to create the illusion of distance. This is taken to a full fuse and will work as an outline to build the foreground and structures.
The second step is to put in the vitrigraph trees and mid-layers. This will be fired at a tack fuse temp.
The third step is to put in the final structures, do any corrections to the trees and put in the first layer of the foreground. Each subsequent fire occurs at a lower temp and longer fire.
The final fire takes care of all of the foreground detail, shadows ,and accents and any corrections (mainly with powders) that need to be done with the structures. This is a minimal fire temp and long ramps and holds.

Once the piece has cooled, then I lower into a shallow pan of water and drill the hole for the hanger with my trusty battery-powered Dremel. Then off it ships to the client--voila!

Its that time of year again for mega ornament production. These are a sampling of my repetoire this year, both whimsical and painterly. What I like about making ornaments is there is instant gratification--they sell almost as fast as I make them. Helps to boost the ego and feel validated as an artist.

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Chronology of a Frit Painting

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