Cold combing

[vblue]

I just tried cold combing for the first time. I think that this technique would be one that I could teach the school art teachers in my next class.

I mixed powder frit, water, and aloe vera gel. My concern is drying time when they do this in the classroom. Some of the lines were pretty thick and took almost overnight to dry.

Is there a temperature the combings could be held at in a firing schedule that would speed up the drying process without causing the lines to expand due to the moisture being heated? (Hope that makes sense.)

Thank you,
Vernelle

[charlie]

if you get over 212F, you'll get steam and possibly movement. you might test out 160-180 and see how long it would take to dry. you can hold a mirror at one of the peepholes and see if you get any condensation. if not, it's probably dry.

[Morganica]

Get (or make) a food dehydrator. It's basically a box with a rack of window screens, a fan, and a heat source. I've used them where I need to dry significant amounts of water from fiber projects where you can't afford to let the water boil, so I don't see why one wouldn't work here. You might have to open the sides or otherwise figure out how to increase air circulation, since the glass would stop the air flow through the screens, but otherwise I think it would work.

https://www.pinterest.com/darrollr/dehydrator-diy/