My first fuse

quill · Post by **quill** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 9:47 am

I am pretty happy with the way these turned out for my first time
first fusing
but I have a few questions...
They are not quite full-fused so I am wondering if it is better to increase my fusing time from 10 to maybe 15 minutes or if I should increase my temp (say 10 degrees?) I am using Spectrum Glass & Spectrum's schedule. My kiln is a little Aim bead annealer so it is difficult to check visually. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Amy on Salt Spring · Post by **Amy on Salt Spring** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 11:40 am

They look fully fused to me--what effect were you hoping for that you didn't achieve? I always choose longer soaks over higher heat as it gives you more control. Only if I am unable to get what I want after soaking for a longer time do I inch up the temp. I hardly ever go above 1450 and consequently I have almost no problem with kiln wash sticking, needles, distortion etc. These are great--I love the blue/gold/black combos.
-Amy

quill · Post by **quill** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 11:46 am

Amy on Salt Spring wrote:They look fully fused to me--what effect were you hoping for that you didn't achieve?

HI Amy,

Thanks for the nice words! They are not quite smooth along the edges, some gaps, dimples etc. I will try the longer soak & see if this works better. I forgot to mention size in my post, they are about 1" diameter max & the dichro I used was 'Dichro Magic"

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 12:17 pm

They look great, I can see only one bubble, well done.

The edges that aren't joined properly (top right picture, bottom left item); maybe the top cap could have been a lee bit bigger. So when it dropped down and fused to the base, there would be enough material to give a nice radius.

Paul

quill · Post by **quill** » Tue Apr 08, 2003 2:48 pm

maybe the top cap could have been a lee bit bigger

Ah... thanks for the tip. I will try that next time.