Super Spray A Reaction, Shadows, Polishing
Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 1:43 pm
I fused Spectrum stacked squares and I was pleased with the effect. The finished thickness of each piece is about 5/16". The two items are 7.5 x 7.5 and 6 x 9 inches.The edges needed some smoothing because of contact with fiber paper lining the dams. I used a grinder, cleaned the ground edges as best as I could, and opted to fire polish to round the ground edges. I thought Super Spray A would help things along and decided to brush it on the top as well. The shelf had been fired only once since being scraped and kilnwashed. I used Thinfire this time around. I'm pretty sure I did not hold it long enough at the process temperature (2 minutes @ 1375), but I think there was a reaction to something in the Super Spray because the glass developed brown areas, basically on the yellow and green glass. The bottom of the piece also now has shadows of some of the design squares. I have no idea what was in the Super Spray to cause the brown reaction. I've used this same bottle before with no problem. Could the little mixing balls have deteriorated over the last 2 years and leached some metal into the liquid? Or would I not have had the problem if I had held it for 10 minutes?
Problem #1 Salvage the pieces by shining them up. I have never done serious coldworking with hand pads because I used to live near a studio that had all the equipment (lap grinder, sandblaster, etc.) Now that I've moved, I don't have access to equipment. I succeeded in removing the brown stuff on top, but I think I pressed too hard with the roughest grit pad, and I've got lots of scratches. I used all the grits up to 3000, changing the water after each grit. I don't want to use the pads further for fear I will mess it up even more. Also, my carpal tunnel issue can't take much more action. I'd like to re-firepolish, but I thought maybe I should sift clear powder or fine frit on the top to help heal the scratches. Is that necessary? Will that solve problem #1? Maybe there is a better solution, like driving 250 miles to use a sandblaster for 60 seconds...
Problem #2 Make sure the shelf is not contaminated. Brad's book says to fire a shelf to 1650 to burn off residue of whatever may have caused a reaction. Do you think that will work here? I can't find the page in the book to check the length of the hold...
I'm including a picture of the hand pads, in case anyone has any comments on them. They're supposed to be diamond pads, but who knows???
Thank you for reading all of this. I hope you have suggestions on how to solve my problems.
Problem #1 Salvage the pieces by shining them up. I have never done serious coldworking with hand pads because I used to live near a studio that had all the equipment (lap grinder, sandblaster, etc.) Now that I've moved, I don't have access to equipment. I succeeded in removing the brown stuff on top, but I think I pressed too hard with the roughest grit pad, and I've got lots of scratches. I used all the grits up to 3000, changing the water after each grit. I don't want to use the pads further for fear I will mess it up even more. Also, my carpal tunnel issue can't take much more action. I'd like to re-firepolish, but I thought maybe I should sift clear powder or fine frit on the top to help heal the scratches. Is that necessary? Will that solve problem #1? Maybe there is a better solution, like driving 250 miles to use a sandblaster for 60 seconds...
Problem #2 Make sure the shelf is not contaminated. Brad's book says to fire a shelf to 1650 to burn off residue of whatever may have caused a reaction. Do you think that will work here? I can't find the page in the book to check the length of the hold...
I'm including a picture of the hand pads, in case anyone has any comments on them. They're supposed to be diamond pads, but who knows???
Thank you for reading all of this. I hope you have suggestions on how to solve my problems.