Bullseye Quick Tip – Frit Balls

The picture Bullseye is using for this quick tip makes me crazy because I absolutely love opaline glass, which is the glass used. So lovely! So I’m just going to paste in the copy from the email and say, “for more information go over to Bullseye’s web site…” Now I’m going to run over to my kiln and make me some opaline frit balls!

Frit balls—easy to make and fun to use!

Spread out pieces of coarse frit (0003) on a primed kiln shelf, leaving space around each piece. Fire hot enough to round out the frits, usually 1500°F (816°C) with a 20-minute hold. There’s no need to anneal. Open the kiln and voila, you’ll find frit balls! Once they’re cool, rinse with glass cleaner and rub dry to remove primer dust. For opalescent styles that pick up primer, do a quick soak in CLR (calcium lime rust remover) before rinsing and drying. When clean, the frit balls are ready to use as design elements or for building larger forms.

The frit balls shown here were made with Opaline Striker frit, which should be fired on the cool side to achieve a pleasing translucent quality: 1480°F (804°C) with a 16-minute hold. Get Opaline Striker frit working notes.

To make the Opaline frit-ball bowl shown above, first create a dam by cutting a 5.5″ hole in a sheet of 1/8″ fiber paper, leaving the border intact. Place the dam on a primed kiln shelf and load it up with about 5 ounces of frit balls. Tack the balls together by firing at a rate of 300°F (167°C) per hour to 1375°F (746°C) for 10 minutes. Slump the piece in a separate firing using mold 8746 . We recommend annealing in both firings.

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If you’d like to learn more about kilnforming glass, check out these teaching studios in your region:

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Circular knitting machines are a lot of fun, and one of the best ways I have found to use them is to make seasonal decor and toys. I guess that’s because these are the kinds of projects that I don’t want to spend a ton of time on but still want to make from time to time.

That’s not to say that knitting machine projects can’t be detailed and time consuming. And really the great ones are those that take the time to add fun details to make the finished project that much more interesting.

Like these adorable dinosaurs from Three Magic Sheep Co. The pattern includes instructions for a triceratops and a stegosaurus. Here they’re shown in coordinating candy colors, which I love, but you can of course make yours in any color you like.

The larger pieces of the body and legs are worked on either a 46 or 48 pin machine, while the smaller parts are worked on a 22-pin machine. I don’t know if a lot of people have both but the 22 pin machines are so inexpensive it’s nice to have both for projects like this. I’m not sure what she used for the triceratops horns, but in customer pictures on the listing it shows people have made them with both knitting and crochet so you can do that, too, instead of buying horns to use.

The details on these are really cute (you will want to buy safety eyes, or you can embroider eyes on if you’d rather) and customers note it takes longer to sew the pieces together than it does to crank them.

This looks like a fun pair of patterns to make for a dinosaur loving kiddo (or adult!) in your life. You can check out the pattern and all the customer comments and photos at Three Magic Sheep Co. on Etsy.

[Photo: Three Magic Sheep Co.]

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