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I agree Brad. I think that with proper handling procedures, kilns are pretty safe. The failure of SSR's is for me the only main concern. I wish there was a kill switch of some sort that would shutdown power to the kiln when the temp reached 1800 degrees or so. In the past the only device like this w...

Brad, I apologize for not knowing why these people lost their studios to fire. It may not have been a kiln malfunction. I do know of a firing by a friend that scared me a little. He was firing a large kiln that was full of tiles for a project. He fired the tiles over night using a kiln controller. W...

If you are looking for a good reason to use an outbuilding for a kiln location, here is one. You won't lose your house if you have a kiln related fire! I have known at least a couple of potters who have lost their studios to fire.

I agree with Bert. Offsetting the piece from the wall and washing the wall with light seems to be the less obtrusive and most efficient way to backlight. I make bases and stands for my work so they can be displayed on a shelf and be offset from the wall that will be lit. This way the piece also acco...

Which is a stronger flux, borax or boric acid? Are there any other notable differences in the way they work between the two?

I use small water supply pumps that are made for tile saws with a small inline valve for my water supplies. You can get the small pumps at Home Depot (around $20). One advantage is that you can use the pump to pump water out of a five gallon bucket instead of running a garden hose as your water sour...

Thanks Lynn. I had read similar information about the closing. I just wish she had sold the gallery as a continuing business. It was on my list for work review submission. I would have liked the opportunity to have some work there.

Thanks Brad

If I wanted to establish a local forum of Warmglass users in the Minneapolis area, which would be the best category to post the query in?

Pismo Galleries recently discontinued their business. The galleries were the major glass galleries in the Denver area. Does anybody have any information as to whether the business has been sold or whether there will be some other gallery to fill the vacuum Pismo will leave? If they have closed for p...

I am not sure Kevin but I think it would be a messy foam and would probably inhibit the balls from doing their job.

Well I rewashed the frit and used a water based degreaser with multiple rinses. It is significantly better. The washed and dried frit sparkles in the light. I also think that one of the reasons the alumina residue stuck to the frit particles so stubbornly was probably due to a static charge. Evident...

I don't have a Revolution XT but I do have a scroll saw that I rigged with a water supply for cutting glass. What I do to mark the glass is to first spray a light coat of shellac on the glass and let it dry. Then I draw the pattern on the shellac coated glass with a Sharpie (silver if the glass is d...

I just washed the frit with a water based degreaser that I often use to get a good clean on sheet glass. It is something like "simple green". I rinsed it well. I will let you know if it helps. If it doesn't work I will try the Jet Dry.

I just had another thought. When I washed the frit, I washed it several times with water. Would washing it with some sort of surfactant before I rinse it help release the minuscule particles of alumina from the surface of the frit grains?

Well I just fired up a piece that I used the newly cleaned frit on. The cloudiness was reduced by at least half. I would rather not have any of this haze in the piece. I cleaned the frit well and evidently still couldn't get rid of the alumina contamination completely. Does anybody have any other id...

I have bought both the glycol and the glycerine online through a company called: bulk apothecary.com

Bert, What proportions is your propylene glycol to glycerine mix? I have mainly used commercial thixotropic solvent mixed mediums but you are always running a fine line between too fast a drying time and too thin to get a good screen print. The other thing is I use a standard dual cure photo emulsio...

I have several Corelite shelves and did nothing to break them in. The largest ones that I have are 25 1/2" in diameter and I have probably used them for at least a hundred firings without any problem. I usually heat them up before spraying them with kiln wash so their resistance to thermoshock ...

Cynthia, Thanks for the response. I washed it as well as I could without getting obsessive compulsive about it and it is currently drying out. As soon as I get back to the studio, I will run a test on it. A lot of grey matter came out in the wash water so I have some hope that it will fire a lot cle...