WarmGlass.com

Hi Deena,

The thinner the glass the more the folds.

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Ross, I prefer Super Spray rather than Clear Coat. The Clear Coat sometimes does not evenly cover smooth surfaces (I use a brush for application which may be the problem). I would suspect that either would work fine on powder wafers... should absorb into the surface well. I only use overglaze if ...

Sarah,

I took your comment exactly in the style that you meant it, that Nikki was being very helpful and thorough. I was just embellishing the story. It's OK to joke.

Cheers,

Bob

Lani referred to making test tiles and others in this thread have referred to the set at Vitrum, mine and Roger Thomas'. I started my collection of tiles after taking a workshop at Bullseye last summer. Many of them are direct copies (dare I say rip-offs) of ones that are part of the Bullseye collec...

Sarah, Nikki's studio is anything but that of a mad scientist's lab. Had the pleasure of visiting it in May. Nikki's approach to glass and her work does reflect her training as an accomplished research scientist.... an excellent asset for working with warm glass. As we walked through her studio she ...

Hi Kelly,

The best tool/machine for getting that lovely sharp flat edge is a vibralap. The bowl is placed top down on a vibrating pan that has loose grit. Going through successively finer grits results in the polished edge.

Marty is the pro.

Cheers,


Bob

Lori, I'd slump the two sizes separately. One of the learned statements from Graham Stone, one of the early contributors to the Board who was a tremendous wealth of knowledge, pointed out that slumping rate is a function of span (not spab)... the width of the unsupported glass on the mold. The wider...

Hey Paul,

What about "MacTac" shelve covering. It comes in clear. Or duct tape/masking tape.

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Kitty, I don't really know much about iridized glass other than that I have seen mottled or patchy coatings on glasses that were not made for fusing. I may be totalled incorrecty on the health hazard issue, and would really welcome comments from anybody that has real knowledge about irid coatings...

Hi Cinda, The iridized coating on glass is actually a thin coating of metal. The coating on glass made for fusing won't burn off at the temperatures used for kilnforming glass. The coatings on glass made for stained glass can (and do) burn off at temperatures as low as slumping temperatures. These s...

Hi Kathie, Place the glass on a flat surface. Does it lie flush against the surface, or does it rock slightly when you push down on one side? If it doesn't lie flat then it may suggest that your shelf had warped at fusing temperature. I have noticed this with one of my rogue shelves. The shelf elast...

Hi Ross,

I get aluminum oxide grit at a local sandblasting supply store. Check the yellow pages for a supplier.

Cheers,

Bob

Ron,

They are located about mid-ship.


Cheers,

Bob

[ But what do you do when you have firings that are so long and you need to sleep? I can't afford to pay anyone to sit there and watch my kilns while I sleep. So, it's a practicality thing. Your insight is always welcome and I would love to hear what you have to say. Amy Hi Amy, I believe sleep is c...

Hi Lissa, You can go to full fuse (~1525F) without losing the detail in the powder. The base glass should be 1/4" thick or the entire sheet will contract somewhat. Probably the retention of detail depends more on the powder used than the firing schedule. Opal powders will have better colour sat...

I must be more careful when I read....I misread the colour "Violet, Striker" as "Violent Striker" and wondered what was happening at Bullseye.

Cheers,
Bob

[Bob when I was making smaller pieces like you saw when you came to my studio (are you coming back to SS anytime?), I had lots of that question. At one point I had a piece that was in a bowl shape but was, I guess you would call it lacy, with lots of holes. Got lots of nice comments on it but one pe...

Hey Marty,

The question that really bugs me is.... "Can I put that bowl in the dishwasher?"

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Bev,

How about moving the kiln to the convenient spot for firing, leveling the kiln and then placing marks on the floor to record where the casters are located. Then try moving the kin back to the spot to see if it is still properly leveled.

Worth a try.

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Elizabeth, I thought there were two types of switches for manually fired kilns. The first type is the low - medium - high settings that you have. The other is a variable switch that has numbers from 1 through (approximately) 7. I had the latter type on my manuallty fired kiln and was able to find...