Making Glass Frit Castings with Little Fritters Earthenware Mold

These instructions can be used for all of our Little Fritters Molds which you can see by clicking here.

1. The first step is to prime the earthenware mold with Hotline Primo Kiln Wash Shelf Primer or a select glass separator or refined kiln wash using the manufactures' written instructions. After priming assure that the earthenware mold is free of moisture by heating the Little Fritters mold to 300 degrees Fahrenheit before filling with frit.

2. After the Little Fritters mold is primed, select the frit colors and grain sizes to work with to achieve your desired design results. Fine frit works great for detail work. You can fill certain areas with fine frit by carefully pouring a small amount of the fine frit into the detail area and sweeping it into the desired areas with a small soft brush, or you can apply a small amount of fusers glue to the desired detail area and sprinkle the fine frit into the glue area. Larger frit pieces will work great to fill the majority of the mold cavity over the detail areas. Using larger pieces of frit to fill the majority of the cavity will give a more transparent, less bubbled finished product. The amount of frit to use in the Little Fritters cavity is subjective. Frit "shrinks" down when fired as the glass melts and turns to a liquid state and fills all of the cavity and air pockets. If you want your finished Little Fritters to be a heavy paper weight, you can fill the cavity by mounding the glass such that the peak of the mound is taller then the top of the cavity. This can be 6-10 oz of frit depending en the Little Fritters. If you want a finished Little Fritters that is thinner and lighter, the cavity should be filled with less frit, (between 4 and 6 oz) however, you should always mound the frit with a peak in the middle. As the top of the mound melts it will roll down creating less sharp edges on the sides of the mold.

3. After the frit is placed into the Little Fritters mold, fire the mold and glass between 1450 and 1500 degrees Fahrenheit at a rate of 800 degrees/hour. (The fusing temperature of the frit will depend upon the COE of the glass- COE 96 glass fuses nicely at 1480 degrees Fahrenheit). Hold the kiln at the fusing temperature for 30 minutes and allow the kiln to cool slowly, ideally holding at 900 degrees for an hour and then naturally to room temperature before opening. (If you are operating a kiln that works with a cone, a cone 012 will work nicely. The temperature of a cone 01 2 is higher then required however, typically kilns that work with cones don't have a "hold"
option and the higher temperature will compensate for this.)

4. After the kiln has returned to room temperature, release the glass casting from the mold by inverting the mold. The glass casting should easily release from the cavity. Occasionally a sharp glass spur will be on the edge of the glass casting. The spurs can be ground using a diamond file or other suitable device using the manufactures' written instructions.