WarmGlass.com

Hi Alecia,

There are no rules in kilnformed glass. And if there were... they were made to be broken (or at least tested)

There are Laws... the physcial and chemical properties that will occur regardless of what we with glass in teh kiln. Laws can be twisted but not broken.

Cheers,

Bob

Hey Brock, I have a stupid question (not my first). Why do people prefire kiln shelves? I guess the answer is buried somewhere in the archives. I have never prefired my shelves. I do ensure that they are dry (bone dry... which ain't hard in Alberta). I generally wash the shelf(ves) at the end of a s...

Ann I would strongly suggest that you get a camera that allows you to manually control the exposure by varying either or both of the aperature and shutter speed. Fully automatic cameras will average the exposure over all or a large part of the field of view, and make assumptions about what is best f...

Hey Kathie, I place newspaper on a work surface with a couple of kiln posts to lift the shelf off the paper. Using the thingy I scrape the used wash off onto the newspaper. If there is any dust I spray it with water using a mister thingy (not Mr. Thingy). After I scrape down all the shelves I cover ...

Hi Robin, What is the thickness of the base glass that you are tack fusing onto? If it is 1/8" then the glass may be contracting due to surface tension. The irid coating puckers as the glass contracts. If the base glass is 1/4" thick then it should not change volume ... in theory. I have n...

Mary,

One of our illustrious warmglass board members, Doug Randall, has taught classes at his studio in Portland. He is VERY knowledgable. Perhaps contact him via personal message.

There are lots of studios in the Pacific NW. There has to be something in Seattle.

Cheers,

Bob

Brock, In order to properly design the experimental technique it is necessary to limit the number of variables so that the only change is tempeature. The best way to conduct this experiment is to send me complete with a few sheets of glass and my trusty schilberschnitt circle cutter to various warm ...

Judith and Duane,

Neat idea! I was wondering if black powder would work better than clear because of the lower melting temp. If glued properly it should not be visible. Comments?

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Robin, I have worked with tack fused beads on irid surfaces and had some popping off. Some of it was caused by trying to tack fuse irid on irid.... just didn't work. When only one surface is irid it seemed to work OK if I took the temp to 1345F (hotter than I regularly tack fuse (1325)) and soake...

Nice chair Paul,

How did you mount the wafer of the leaf on the back?

Cheers,

Bob

Hi Linda, The Lead in the overglaze reacts with something (sulphur?) in the French Vanilla to create the muddy colour .... at least that is what I believe the reaction to be. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Nonetheless it is a chemical reaction of some sort. I think the only cure for the imp...

Amy, Brock has mentioned art that "stops you in your tracks". Your's stops me. When I'm finished being amazed by the colour and form I look at the technical "stuff" and I get amazed all over again. Then I go back to the colour and form... then back to the technical "stuff&qu...

Irene is a wonderful artist and a very generous person. Irene gave a presentation at the Glass Art Association of Canada Conference in Red Deer in 2000 that left most of the audience in tears for her sensitive and personal reflections on the Holocaust. Her work is outstanding, as is the thought that...

Absolutely beautiful creation from a very clever mind.


Cheers,

Bob

Hi Linda,

Try these two things:

1) make sure that the side of the wafer that was against the shelf in the first firing is facing up.

2) put in a soak at 1325... about 30 minutes to allow the wafer to fuse onto the upper layer before going up to full fuse

Hope these help.

Cheers,

Bob

Sean, I think taking the kiln to a high temperature and trying to burn off any contaminants is a good idea. If it is a ceramic kiln it will probably go to well above 2000F which is well above the working temperature for glass. Vent the kiln so the contaminants have a chance to escape. I am surprised...

Hi Tom,

Should be fine. Slump at the lowest temperature possible to minimize the mark that the rim of the mold will leave on the back of the piece.

Cheers,

Bob

From the dark recesses of my memories of second year mineralogy back in 1970 I seem to remember (through the haze of the 70's) how polarization works. One of the theories about light is that it propogates as vibrating waves. A polarizing filter removes all directions of vibration except for one dire...

Hi Tom, That is a tough problem. How about this for a solution... just a guess. Tack fuse at a lower temperature... 1325-1350? if that works for Spectrum. Soak until the edges start to round, or until the bubbles first start to appear as "zits" on the top of the white glass. Cool the kiln ...

Pat,

I believe that given enough glass, electricity and personal energy we will all get there.

Cheers,

Bob