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BTW...did you get those tubular sculptures cast successfully? Any pics?

Just to clarify...I'm assuming you meant the *glass* in the flower pots took longer to melt than the glass in a stainless steel bowl??

Carol

I've read your post several times trying to visualize what you're describing. Let me see if I've got it right. There is an egg-shaped mold with a plaster core that will be removed. Is that much correct? The thing I can't visualize is how the mold is oriented in the kiln. This information would be he...

Hi Tim...I do both poured and hand-built molds, but predominantly poured. Most of my shapes are openfaced, but I have done 3D lay-up and poured molds this way as well, with no flashing. The molds average between 1 and 2 inches thick, but I've made them up to 3 inches thick with fiberglass in the out...

Just to offer a slightly different approach...I do not dry mix my ingredients before adding them to water. I take one scoop of plaster and one scoop of silica (I usually put a little more plaster than silica per scoop to approximate by weight) and put in a bucket. I mix only enough for the mold or m...

Here's a link to a great website with some info on using clay for casting. It's all Stina uses. She experimented extensively during her master's studies at CA College of ARts and Crafts. Right now she's doing small shapes but has successfully cast larger pieces as well. I didn't find the link to the...

Hey Jack....I fire wet molds all the time...that is I put the glass in when it's wet and dry in the kiln. I spend some time at 200F 6 - 12 hours depending on size and then go up slowly, around 200 dph, to 1200F. I think it gives a better surface texture than completely dried before hand molds, for s...

If I'm not mistaken, it's called the Compleat Sculptor. Also, http://www.artstuf.com is the website for Douglass & Sturgiss in San Francisco and they have lots o' info on moldmaking and materials on their website. Another idea is to sculpt in clay, make a rubber mold and make wax casts from that...

Hi again John... Most casters I know use a 50/50 mix by volume of #1 Pottery Plaster and 200 mesh silica flour. By weight is slightly better, but I just put bigger scoops of silica and slightly smaller scoops of plaster to approximate by weight. You can get both ingredients at your local ceramics su...

Tim...Thanks for that info...do you have a rough idea of how much it costs per year?

carol

What a fascinating article John...thanks for sharing! Who knows what the future holds....

Carol

Hey Steph! Here's one idea. Find three different lines that are diameters of the circle and make three marks at 4 inches. That should give you the middle of the felt pad. Measure out from that point 3/8 inch in several places and mark those points, giving a 3/4 inch diameter pattern. Then get a &quo...

Well, here are my calcs, having just recently designed a kiln! I think they're correct. Okay: amps = watts/volts so, 12.5 amps = X watts/120 volts. Multiplying both sides by 120 to solve for X gives 1500 watts. According to the euclids.com website, a kiln for glass slumping/annealing should be desig...

Hi Jim- Or you can do what I did (following Brian Blanthorn's suggestion)...I called a local glass supply house (plate glass) and asked if they had a used Somaca belt sander. Turned out they were looking for an excuse to upgrade to a new machine and sold me their older, recently refurbished, belt sa...

Interesting story about the public's perception of glass...I was recently told that I made the short list of artists for a large public art commission and that the committee loved my work and my concept. I proposed medium-sized cast glass pieces that would be siliconed in a metal framework. However,...

Hi Steph...thanks for the compliment! Right now my largest pieces are in the 2 ft range, but with my new kiln I'm going much bigger...up to 4 04 5 ft tall. Yay!! Re the annealing schedule, I follow the annealing schedules that BE has developed for thicker work. May be available on their website, can...

Steph...I cast with BE cullet with an anneal temp of 960 and take all my castings to 1520, so I would infer that the Gaffer with an anneal temp of 925 would do fine in the 1520 to 1550 range, altho I have not cast with it yet. Someone is sending me some Gaffer for a commission, so maybe I'll know mo...