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I have used several alternatives.. Liquid soap is a good one. If the piece is dry enough, any oil works well. On a wet surface oil may separate and leave gaps. Even a slurry of clay may work, if you manage to open when it is still wet. It is the most difficult, as it deters air flowing into the seam...

If you happen to have old fashioned iron fillings in your teeth, you can test the tin side by licking. If you lick the tin side, you felel slight electricity. With air side not.
Remember to reclean the glass after that.

My preferred way to wire a kiln is with a high temp limit circuit, that includes a hitemp limit controller, a thermocouple, and double pole mechanical relays for each zone. The controller is wired with a light switch. When you take power away from the controller, the mechanical relays open, which r...

here we have live, zero and ground. The kiln exterior must be connected to the ground. My own kiln has three phase wiring (Three live plus ground). There is also an extra relay in line that before the working relays. The purpose is to cut off all live lines when the kiln is opened. It is triggered b...

Most running pliers have curved jaws. They are good.
Bohle has a flat upper jaw and a tiny nibble in the middle of the bottom jaw.
I made a little groove n the upper jaw surface that matches the nibble.
That works.
-lauri

All the energy, in my case 8-12 kWh, turns to heat which at some point leaves thekiln and warms the room. It helps a little in the cold Scandinavian winter, but not enough. Opening a hot kiln. Sure it delivers a hot blow enough to burn your eyelashes. That is the short term effect. Be really careful...

I have used Pilot silver marker in full fuse. It tends to turn black or dark grey.
-lauri

The picture brings in mind a question that has bogged me for a while.
Why the handles of asymmetric pliers (running and gozing) are made similar.
A different feel would lead to use them the right side up.

For quick demanding jobs I use 1. Model airplane glue (cellulose dissolved into acetone) or 2 nail polish (quite the same stuff, easier to apply but more expensive). For slow drying thick CMC goo applied with a ketchup squeeze bottle Medium working time 3M contact glue spray. The latest experiments ...

Hairspray iridescent sounds to me like vaporware.
Has anyone tested lustres that are used in porcellain painting?
-lauri

You may have tools for measuring thermal expansion. The point here is avoiding permanent stress. It can be seen with a pair of polarized filters. Search this forum about polarization. I strongly recommend that you make a small test. It can be a 4"square you process according your plans. See if ...

I don't know about faster given that some of the schedules I have seen for doing telescope mirrors take DAYS to run, which I can understand on larger mirrors where I might be casting as much as 20-40 lbs of glass, and in some cases MORE !!! It is not the weight that counts but the distance the heat...

I think ( with no further experience) that two phase firing is the fastest way to go. First slump the front plate. 1/2" does not take too long to anneal and cool. Then add the foam glass mixture for a second firing. That may be a little tricky. You have a thin biscue dome under the sheet. It ta...

There is one little thing you urgently need. The kiln diary. You need a drawing or photo of the pieces you put in the kiln. You need a list what glass colors you used. You note down the firing program When you open the fired kiln, you spend some time to admire your results. Note down what was good, ...

I do not know how well it handles thick glass but the German Proxxon brand http://www.proxxon.com/eng/html/27172.php looks well built and has diamond band plus water feed. For precice cutting of thin glass it is excellent. very narrow kerf permits cutting both sides if a figure line in one run. Unfo...

No-one has yet asked the question of professional pride and honesty. My spectacles have plastic lenses, but I can't imagine me making plastic glass art. Even partly. In some works I use glue for sure. Then I make it look like glued. To put a laquer on a matte surface? Not for me. If I can't polish I...

I have to invest as little as possible to tools, because I prefer to buy glass. For a half inch hole I have to use what I have. First a 2-3 mm hole with Dremel Then I enlarge it with the 6 mm extension bit on an edge grinder Glasstar.type. When I get the bit throuh, I use it as a grinder, moving aro...

Similar works I have done using 3M contact glue spray. The volume of combusting material is so small that emiited smoke or gassing is mot noticeabe in 1sqft piece.

The spray glue gives the glass some 'tooth' that makes frit painting easier.

-lauri

I secomd MOrganica's report.
Especially plaster molds warm up very very slowly.
As long as there is a tad of moisture in the plaster it does not get over boiling point. Even after that the water in the chrystalline lattice resist heating.

-lauri

Good photo ! The parts have moved far apart. I understand it so that the blank exploded quite early, before it started to slump. It was the explosion tha moved the pieces over the mold rim. Why did it do that? Maybe too fast ramp up or the leaf pattern has absorbed heat faster than the clear part, t...