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steel blue coated with a film when fused
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 8:16 pm
by river
I was just fusing with Bullseye 0146-30 steel blue opalescent. I was making barrettes and when I tack fused another color to the steel blue, in my kiln, it came out coated with a silver film:? Does anyone know why? I know certain colors if combined will change color, but this coating thing has never happened to me before. The other colored barrettes (not steel blue) that I was fusing at the same time, turned our great, but the 5 steel blue turned out coated. I only tack fused it (less that 1500 degrees). Also, I do mess around with PMC, but the kiln shelf was freshly sanded and kiln washed.
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2003 8:53 pm
by Ron Coleman
The silver coating is the nature of BE steel blue. Anytime you get over about 1300f with it the silver shows up. Coat with an overspray to seal the surface and keep the blue.
Lots in the old archive about steel blue.
Ron
STEEL BLUE GONE SILVER
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 9:53 am
by Kelly Burke Makuch
You can wrap your piece in fiberpaper or sandblast the finished piece. You can also, as suggusted, overspray it. For more suggustions, check archives.
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 12:21 pm
by gone
I have found the only way to keep the blue is to clear cap it. Overglaze will produce a shinier silver, in my experience. The silver can be very beautiful and can be used as part of the design. It tends to occur most at slumping temps and I've also discovered that the effect varies from sheet to sheet.
Els
Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2003 1:22 pm
by Cynthia
It;s the nature of the beast. It's a fabulous glass to play with to achieve different effects. Sometimes when refired it goes back to the original blue. Capping or using SuperSpray will keep it blue. Try playing with it to expoit that silver finish. You can get some really nice results.
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 2:54 pm
by ianj
Rather intriguingly I've only noticed the silver-shift of 0146F at slumping temperatures of 680C. At the first full fuse temp of 815C the glass retains its original colouring - does the shift only work as the glass passes through a certain temp range as appears to be the case?
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2003 3:43 pm
by Ron Coleman
ShadowMan wrote:Rather intriguingly I've only noticed the silver-shift of 0146F at slumping temperatures of 680C. At the first full fuse temp of 815C the glass retains its original colouring - does the shift only work as the glass passes through a certain temp range as appears to be the case?
If you lower your fusing temp to about 785 c (1450 f) the color may keep. It tends to disappear at higher temperatures.
Ron