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You can add petroleum jelly to Victory Brown to make it more workable by hand.
Steph

Hi Ron, 3" is about where I place the pot, too. I put a couple long kiln posts in a V shape, and put the pot on top. The higher up the pot is, the more movement in the glass stream. If it's around 5" or so above the mold, the bottom of the stream starts to drop in a circular motion. I wond...

Bert, what are you saying? I'm not getting the math.

Steph

Okay, thanks for the ideas. On a more esoteric note - why make a felt wheel with no hole in it?

I need to drill a perfectly centered 3/4" hole in an 8" felt buffing wheel.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steph

It's a mixture of aluminum bifluoride and sugar in water. Someone said that it makes a dilute sulfuric acid solution, I don't personally know if that's correct. I suit up and am very careful around it, anyway, and keep it and the process outside. Bob from Hisglassworks.com told me that they were pre...

I use similar diamond pads on my cast work. I knock any flashing or bubbles off with a diamond burr tool (I use a Foredom), and then use five grades of diamond pads to get rid of the burr marks & get a smooth finish. I also use a flat lap for the rim & base. I am setting up a brush wheel, wh...

I've got a Covington too. For the money, it's a good sander. I'm not crazy about the water feed, though. It's difficult to keep the hose in the fitting where it attaches to the machine. Also the head that drips the water onto the belt has two holes, and with a gravity feed setup, it doesn't cover th...

Judi,

Is the devit on the front or the back of the piece?

Steph

Ron, the amber microcrystalline wax is firmer and less sticky than the brown. It may not be as firm as you're after, but is easier to carve in a warm environment.

Steph

I'll see if I can figure out the pic-post thing. If you email me, I'll send you the pics that way, I actually know how to accomplish that.

Steph

Thanks guys, that helps. I get the mailings from my local arts comissions, but most of the projects are so huge that they are a bit intimidating. I'm not quite ready for the $50,000 library project. Maybe some day soon. Becky - good idea about the meeting topic, I will try to get on the list next ti...

Oh, man. That sounds great. Where would I get such a fine thing? Or maybe I could make a similar one. I was going to build a vibrating table anyway, to help compact the fine glass in the molds. I went to a glass recycling workshop once, and the guy made a good table by suspending a double-decker pla...

So, what do you guys know about public art projects? How do you find out about them? Do they favor artists who have done projects before, or do newbies have a good chance? I did one of the Seattle pigs, but that's my only foray into public art so far. I'd like to go for more, but I'd love to hear fr...

Keith, What's a ro-tap? Something very expensive that I can't live without? I seem to be in the midst of a major equipment hoarding phase. Maybe I was potty trained too early. Maybe one of my ancestors was a rodent. Good idea to put rubber matting in front of the mill, it would really suck to break ...

Hey Charlie, I wonder if the material in the barrel isn't part of the problem. The glass and balls turn and fall pretty easily, at least at first. You just might be running up against more inertia. Is there a way to put a strip of inner tube around the barrel to get more purchase, or something like ...

Oooooh. The vaseline glass sounds interesting, will you let me know when you cast that? I'm wondering if it will keep all its cool properties after casting. Did you say you soak at melt temp for quite a while? I usually soak 6-10 hours for a 8" piece in a 10" mold, and 10-12 hours for a 10...

Hi Charlie, Keith sold me a great old war horse of a ball mill. I assume he has gone on to younger, more beautiful ball mills, but that's just a rumor. It has two 5' long rubber-covered rods. They are maybe 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Both have bearings on the ends so that they turn. One has a pulley...

I finally got it together to assemble the nifty ball mill. I have a heavy workbench, which I used to build in a frame for the mill. It runs great. I'm ready to crush stuff now, man! There won't be a large bit of glass left anywhere in my studio soon. I cast a couple things this month with powders, a...

Yeah, I splurged and cast some things with Gaffer a few years ago. It is really beautiful. The colors are all compatible and the pieces seem to glow from inside. But it is 45% lead glass, which means it's heavy. I cast a wheel that's around 16" in diameter and not very thick, maybe 1/2", a...