Colour Blooming - A pattern making process for glass by Catherine Dunstan

This e-book is a comprehensive tutorial in my colour blooming technique. It provides clear instructions, demonstrating how you can design and create your own colour bloom pattern artworks.

I also take you through my own journey of experimentation and discovery, so you uncover new details and ideas just like I did. I feel it’s so important to play and take risks as an artist and I hope using a narrative format will demonstrate how thinking creatively can lead to developing new and exciting ways of working.

When you place your order you will receive a download link via email.

Colour Blooming is a glass technique I developed during my MA study in 2019. It’s born out of extensive experiments in colour and form, and a desire to convey a sense of transition in glass. When I first discovered this process I was thrilled that colour blooms resembled kaleidoscopic patterns. It was exciting and daunting to realise that the scope of possibility in both design and scale were going to be virtually limitless, and I knew that this could be a process that would be fun to teach and share.

This is a pattern making technique, not a pattern bar technique, which means there's no need for any big kit other than a kiln. You won't need a saw, a sandblaster or any other cold-working equipment.

This is a very satisfying process, requiring a leap of faith. To start with, experimentation is key; the more blooms you create, the more able you will be to make educated guesses as to what is going to happen and develop full design control over your patterns.

This process requires competent glass cutting, but there are a number of adjustments that can be made if this is something you are currently lacking confidence with, so it is accessible across a range of competency levels. Users will benefit from an existing understanding of glass compatibility and how to read firing programs.

My firing guides will be provided in Celsius and Fahrenheit for both COE90 and COE96 users.