Search found 260 matches

by charlie holden
Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:37 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Testing metal for use as a mold
Replies: 6
Views: 8843

Quite likely they are chrome covered tin. Don't fire them. Poisonous gas. Roll out a slab of clay, cut the shapes out with the cutter to make tiles with holes in the center, cut each tile in half, dry, bisque fire, coat with kiln wash and fill with frit. You need to cut the tiles in half or thirds s...
by charlie holden
Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:29 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Steaming wax out of moulds
Replies: 16
Views: 22128

Re: sculpting wax

Have any of you tried using Scupt-a-wax? The company representatives say that its "wax", and melts out cleanly for lost wax moulds, but it is more oily than waxy and is opaque. It feels great in your hands for sculpting, unlike my experience with microcrystaline. I wouldn't want to use it...
by charlie holden
Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:15 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: copper inclusions in slumped sconce
Replies: 2
Views: 3769

It all depends on how thick the glass is, how heavy and how wide. You just have to test this kind of thing yourself.

ch
by charlie holden
Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:33 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: argh HELP WITH MOLD IDEAS
Replies: 22
Views: 23756

This is one of my favorite rants. Shape, color, pattern, texture -- all the formal elements are important. I agree with the guild. If you are using a shape that you bought in a store that anyone else can buy, why should you be considered a craftsman while others using that shape are considered newbi...
by charlie holden
Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:49 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Pot Melting
Replies: 27
Views: 43206

Re: Pot Melt

Steve Eshbaugh wrote:Is there any reason why you can't use a stainless steel funnel to
do a pot melt?

Steve
Unless it's Inconel the stainless will spall off black crud into your glass. Normal stainless is fine for slumping but won't hold up to casting.

ch
by charlie holden
Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:45 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Speed of drilling
Replies: 7
Views: 9182

A minute is pretty fast if you ask me. I drill lots of holes with bigger hollow core bits and often take ten minutes. Much more pressure and the glass breaks.
by charlie holden
Fri Feb 06, 2004 1:40 pm
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Kiln Resin on side Of kiln?
Replies: 3
Views: 5076

It is probably sugar. Lots of refractories, especially fiber boards and papers, use a sugar binder that is burned out at about 600 F. Smells sweet whene fired. I haven't heard that it is used in fire brick, but maybe so. In one of the pictures you can see the corner of the fiber board of the kiln li...
by charlie holden
Fri Feb 06, 2004 1:33 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Pot Melting
Replies: 27
Views: 43206

The biggest trouble people get into when doing pot melts is the glass is very sticky as it spreads out over the shelf. I do it on plaster/silica bats. Others use very well kilnwashed shelves. Fiber paper won't work.

Good luck

ch
by charlie holden
Fri Feb 06, 2004 1:29 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Kiln Evenivity
Replies: 6
Views: 6952

One thing that complicates the calculation is that the IR doesn't radiate just straight down. Parallel element's radiation overlap each other. Many of the better large, commercial, fiber, bell kilns, like the ones from the Czech Republic, which use coiled elements, in tubes on the ceiling and one al...
by charlie holden
Fri Feb 06, 2004 1:11 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Kiln Evenivity
Replies: 6
Views: 6952

One thing that complicates the calculation is that the IR doesn't radiate just straight down. Parallel element's radiation overlap each other. Many of the better large, commercial, fiber, bell kilns, like the ones from the Czech Republic, which use coiled elements, in tubes on the ceiling and one al...
by charlie holden
Fri Feb 06, 2004 12:46 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: flat lap questions
Replies: 40
Views: 41476

In case Brian's post seemed a little cryptic, try: http://www.hisglassworks.com

He sells all kinds of abrasives stuff, has lots of helpful advice online and gives great phone help.

ch
by charlie holden
Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:07 am
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Upper/lower temp/range for thermal shock?
Replies: 6
Views: 6659

You are not mistaken -- glass will not thermal shock above 1000 F. That is not to say that all of your glass is above 1000 F just because your thermocouple says that's the temperature of the air in your kiln. If you are getting thermal shock in a 1/2 inch thick piece after going up at 35 dph then so...
by charlie holden
Wed Feb 04, 2004 7:59 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: recycling moldmix6?
Replies: 7
Views: 8595

You can stretch MM6 by backing a painted on face coat with plaster/silica if you want to. Two coats MM6 with drying time in between should be enough if your backing it up. The easiest way to paint it on is to run it through a blender first. That will make it very liquid for a while. For an open face...
by charlie holden
Wed Feb 04, 2004 7:42 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: tricky casting annealling Q
Replies: 1
Views: 3583

It is hard to imagine what your shape is like and where the right angles are. I made some rectangular boxes with two inch high, 1/4 inch thick walls, where the top of the walls were buried in the bottom of the mold while the bottom of the box was exposed to the air. So to cast them the glass started...
by charlie holden
Wed Feb 04, 2004 12:53 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Eating Silica? German anyone?
Replies: 27
Views: 28867

Silica flour is finely ground quartz. The schmott he mentioned is apparently what we call grog -- fired clay ground up. Most clay is primarily alumina and silica in various propportions so I bet grog would work just fine. Do some small scale tests. You can also use olivine sand instead of silica, wh...
by charlie holden
Tue Feb 03, 2004 11:19 am
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: pyrex compatibility
Replies: 2
Views: 3333

Most likely not. There are pyrex colors out there. Look for flameworking suppliers like Wale.

ch
by charlie holden
Mon Feb 02, 2004 12:05 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: How much do you pay a woman for...
Replies: 3
Views: 5098

The Czechs can charge by the pound because they specialize in huge stuff, like Karen LaMonte's work. I think she's going to get hosed if she charges by the pound for green beans. I would charge for the job as a whole by figuring up the costs including anticipated failures and adding profit. I wouldn...
by charlie holden
Mon Feb 02, 2004 11:55 am
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: more casting mold questions
Replies: 11
Views: 13617

Ceramic molds can be used several hundred times, but probably the best material for multiuse casting is brass. If you can make a ceramic mold, it's not a big step to making a brass one. If you want detail, you'll probably have to use some mechanical means to press the glass into the mold. Gravity i...
by charlie holden
Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:46 pm
Forum: Business Topics
Topic: Cloud Dome vs. Pro Photographer
Replies: 14
Views: 15875

I pay my guy $100 per hour and he's worth every penny. Once things are set up, the pieces go into and out of the set pretty quickly and it's not that expensive. Remember, many more people are likely to see your work through your slides than will see it in person. All it takes is one add, a photo pub...
by charlie holden
Sat Jan 31, 2004 11:40 am
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Unclean! Unclean!
Replies: 23
Views: 23442

Here's an article from "Security Focus" magazine on an FBI agent's visit to a computer class. It is not technical at all. There is some pretty scary stuff as well as some pretty funny stuff. He has some interesting things to say about Macs as well. In the discussion below the article a cou...