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Hi

Have to make lots (and I really mean lots) of little opal balled up bits. The kiln wash sticks to them. Have successfully cleaned them up in my rotary tumbler. No media, just all the bits, water just to cover, couple tablespoons of #80 silicon carbide, about 4 hours.

It works, but cleaning up afterwards is a nightmare. The wet silicon carbide sticks to everything, is too expensive to throw away...though very tempting . It is winter, cold and windy. Have to do all the washing on the veranda, while I mutter Tom Jones song "Baby its cold outside" through clenched teeth.

So thought to pour plaster/silica mix on a few plastic plates, this will give me a flat surface that I don't need to kilnwash.

My question is: will the opal bits not stick to the plaster/silica? I have only used simple open faced molds with gaffer glass, have no experience at all with the BE opals.

Hoping someone will tell me it works well, no sticking. Then I can make lots of flat surfaces and have the mess (mixing the plaster/silica and all the cleaning up afterwards) only once .

Many thanks as always, seachange

Are you talking about cooking up little 1/4" - 1/2" balls from small pieces?

I stack two squarish pieces of 3 mm, with the top one rotated about 45 deg. I fuse them on ThinFire and they come out clean as a whistle. No muss, no fuss.

I soak them in vinegar overnight. The kiln wash comes right off and then rinse them with water. It works like a charm.

Barb

David Jenkins wrote:Are you talking about cooking up little 1/4" - 1/2" balls from small pieces?

I stack two squarish pieces of 3 mm, with the top one rotated about 45 deg. I fuse them on ThinFire and they come out clean as a whistle. No muss, no fuss.

Hi David,

You have reminded me of the thinfire option. I had dropped it a long time ago for the opal balls, the thin fire was creeping up the sides of the balls. This never happened with the transparent glass. But now that i think of it again, it won't matter much for the final use.

I am also using only one layer (two in this case would be too big), randomly chopped into small bits. This seems to take more heat and more movement to round up, grabbing more of the kiln wash in the process.

Many thanks, seachange

Barb R wrote:I soak them in vinegar overnight. The kiln wash comes right off and then rinse them with water. It works like a charm.

Barb

Hi Barb, did try the vinegar, but didn't help. Perhaps it is also my kilnwash formula, had to change it lately because I had run out of one of the two components, and it is not as good.

Are you using primo primer or BE kilnwash? In the long run it might be worthwhile for me to buy some just for this use. Have been making my own for years, may be I am getting too settled in my ways

Will use the thinfire till the weather gets warmer and I can make some plaster/silica plates. I feel pretty sure this should work well, may be someone will still drop in and let me know.

Best regards, seachange

I use BE Kilnwash.

Barb

Barb R wrote:I use BE Kilnwash.

Barb

Thanks Barb, I'll give it a try.

Best regards, seachange