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Jordan, Thanks for the suggestion. I just finished washing the frit. It was my thought too that the alumina residue would be fine enough to be washed out with water using a fine mesh screen. I haven't done any firing tests but the frits do look cleaner and the waste water seemed to have a lot of gre...

I have been using a ball mill (cement mixer with a poly drum inside) to grind down system 96 into frit. It seems to work well but I seem to be getting some sort of residue in the frit that is causing a grey clouding and opacifying of the frit when it is fired. The ball milling is pretty aggressive a...

I think Bert is right about the thickness of the layers. I tried a thin layer and it produced more small blisters while a heavier layer produced fewer larger blisters. I plan on trying the sand layer because I think the answer is in allowing the air to escape before it pushes the blister up. The mol...

I will take some pictures in the morning and post them.

Will do.

Hi Bert--The mold is made of a mix of calcined kaolin, plaster, silica sand and silica flour (an adaptation of the Rousseau mix). I have entertained the idea of a layer of large grain silica sand in between the mold and the kiln shelf to give an escape route for air in the center of the mold and you...

I am sifting a mixture of System 96 Frits on a large (24" diameter) flat mold with low relief impressions and I am having some air entrapment problems. I am firing rather slowly so the mold temp doesn't lag behind too much and so that there is time for some organics to burn out well but I am st...

I have been working without kiln controllers for many years. Most of my work is relatively thin and pretty consistent in thickness. I usually let the kiln cool at its own rate through the annealing cycle and I haven't had any issues yet. The natural cooling rate is affected by the amount of kiln fur...

Thanks Bert but I am not looking for a replacement for 96 colored frits. I am interested in using standard ceramic clear frits as an alternative to clear system 96 frits.

Does anyone know if there are any ceramic frits that have a similar COE to system 96 frit?

If you slump into the mold instead of over the mold, the extra thickness results in extra weight and only hastens the slump. At least in my experience that is the way it works. I have found 3/8" float to bend faster than 1/8" for this reason.

I have been using stainless steel molds for quite a few years now and after quite a bit of experimentation in the beginning, I now only slump into the molds. I did all sorts of bends for china cabinets to windows for buildings and found bending into a curved stainless mold much preferable than bendi...

Jordan,

I like the idea of using a plastic bucket for a ball mill jar but I was just wondering how the bucket holds up to the milling. Is there much plastic abraded into what you are milling?

Thanks

They will handle full fuse temperatures since they were primarily developed for pottery but I have found that they need to be mixed with something (flux or powdered glass) or they will not have enough plasticity to stay together as the glass under them becomes more fluid.

I use fluxes all the time. I don't mix them with premade enamels though (usually). I mix them with ceramic stains in different percentages depending on the level of transparency I need. The ceramic stains are very fine as is the flux that I use (it is a grade called "water ground"). I have...

This is a technique posting area not just a beginner's site. I have been cutting circles for some twenty years now but I hadn't run into the spray cool technique until a few days ago. That being said, I still run into an occasional problem depending on the glass type or the size of the circle. I ass...

While I was looking through information regarding circle cutters that on the market, I came across a supply for circle cutting that I didn't know about and I was wondering if anybody had any experience with it. C.R. Laurence sells an aerosol refrigerant for running scores for circles. They suggest c...

Does anyone out there have any experience with the C.R. Laurence precision circle cutter?

A wet belt is obviously the best way to go but I have used a dry belt sprayed with silicone lubricant. It doesn't create too much heat if done properly but it does generate some dust. A mask is a good idea.

Does anyone out there have any experience with the various "soft" sandblasting media for removing mold residue from fired glass? I have used fine hard media at low pressure for this removal in the past but they are still pretty aggressive on the glass. I know that there are soft media like...