WarmGlass.com

I couldn't open the pdf on http://www.lavacloth.com.

Didn't feel like being cautious.

Found out empirically that lava cloth is not reusable if you fire glass on it at 1575F for 1 hour. And it's a pain in the frit to remove (scrape and blast). And it shrunk alot (I know I was supposed to pre-fire) so the glass flowed out and pulled up some vermiculite shelf (which is still usable but will be smaller after I trim the damaged sections off).

And I'm ambivalent about the texture, anyway.

That's great, I just ordered some.... it's really expensive, too. I hate the texture part of it, but it sounded so great to not have thinfire or kilnwash to deal with.... too good to be true?

Thanks for posting your results, Marty.

Marty wrote:I couldn't open the pdf on http://www.lavacloth.com.

Didn't feel like being cautious.

Found out empirically that lava cloth is not reusable if you fire glass on it at 1575F for 1 hour. And it's a pain in the frit to remove (scrape and blast). And it shrunk alot (I know I was supposed to pre-fire) so the glass flowed out and pulled up some vermiculite shelf (which is still usable but will be smaller after I trim the damaged sections off).

And I'm ambivalent about the texture, anyway.

Marty

I was at Center de Verre a couple of days ago and saw several pieces made by Tony Smith using the lava cloth. His pieces had a nice looking matt surface with the texture of the cloth. I actually thought about you and that you'd like the matt surface. Maybe it deserves another shot? Although 1575 for an hour might be more than it can handle??

7 or 8 years ago, I had some silica cloth from a different manuracturer, and it did not work well for me. The weird thing that happened to me was marks appeared on the glass from places I had run my fingers across the cloth. The glass looked like it needed to be cleaned, but cleaning did not remove the marks. I had to make the piece all over again. This was a large desktop. I gave the "dead" piece to a friend who I often work with (who got me that job). He has it in his sculpture garden (made of various rejects and shards from me). It has been outdoors stuck in the dirt for several years now. I took a look at it last week and the marks were gone. Apparently acid rain washed them away.

Is the Lava Cloth what Tony had a WGW last year? I thought the cloth that he had there he called something else.

Marty Daily is selling and distributing the silica cloth since the manufacturer didn't want to get into the retail business.

It's not that it doesn't do well at higher temperatures, but at temperatures above fusing temps, the glass becomes fluid enough to really sink into the weave of the cloth and it makes it difficult to separate the cloth from the glass without tearing the individual fibers. A dusting of dry kilnwash or mica powder helps mitigate this problem by limiting how far the glass can sink into the weave.

Tony

Tony,
You did not answer the question that I had.. is that the cloth that you had at WGW?
Also, Ed Hoy's sells it.

Stuart

Stuart Clayman wrote:Tony,
You did not answer the question that I had.. is that the cloth that you had at WGW?
Also, Ed Hoy's sells it.

Stuart

Sorry. Yes it's the same cloth. Ed Hoys is getting it from Marty.

Tony

kelly alge wrote:That's great, I just ordered some.... it's really expensive, too. I hate the texture part of it, but it sounded so great to not have thinfire or kilnwash to deal with.... too good to be true?

Thanks for posting your results, Marty.

I found removing the texture to be more trouble than it was worth. If it's texture you want it's a great product.

Jack

I agree. I don't think it should be considered as a replacement for kiln wash or thinfire.

Tony

At Patty Gray's class at Studio B, she had some 'Lava cloth' samples that Centre de Verre sent her to demo. She had them cut up in little squares so everyone could fire a little piece on them to take home so they could remember the effect of the texture...

When the pieces are little, they curl. And the cool thing was that the little pieces of glass on them curled up with them (even three layers) and the texture created this effect that diffused light. So we had these little scoop shaped squares with this opaquing texture (if they were transluscent). I thought that if you could make it do the same thing bigger, it would make a great sconce. ( I don't know if this will work - not a good photo... http://www.sonic.net/~jayreed/lavaclothsample1.jpg )

Seems to me if you are going to use the cloth, you had better be wanting the texture. I bought some and have used it a few times with sifted kiln wash on top and the texture is very pronounced (which I was aiming for) and the dry kiln wash washed right off and the piece lifted off the cloth with no problem.

Linda

The reason to use the cloth is to get the texture. If you don't want it, there are easier, cheaper, and better alternatives.

It does more than texture. It leaves a matt surface.

actually, it only leaves a matte surface if you use it plain... also, I sandblast my glass after firing. The irid fired onto the cloth and glass that is fired with a dusting of dry kilnwash comes out glossy but textured.

Tony