Gabbert g-12 casting in progress

[watershed]

The spelling is going to be bad, and this is partial info, and I do have to go back to the basement and charge the pots.

first: 1400 is not enough for "swift" casting. I slept with it at 1400, and it DID empty the pot, but not with speed.

1600 is too much for a 18in mold. 50/50

1550 is really nice. it takes about 2 hrs to empty the flower pot of a (32oz) scoop charge. You can travck the progress with the pyrometer. Once the pyrometer goes back to 1550, then wait another X minutes, and it will empty.

Carol knows about my "pipes". All I can do is about 18-20 inches, adding on the flower pot. Pot suacers are Useless, or close. When you get that "walk in" annealer together, send me a pic.

Shutting off the kiln when charging is , just a relief. try it...

Steph: FHC is Fenton Heavy Crystal, for whoich there is a waiting list. I have no idea "What" it is, except there is a waiting list. The fact that the G-12 anneals around 1000, tells me that it's not that far from soda lime. Not that it's bad...

G-12 Pate: Don't do it. Unless you like bubbles and/or extended firing times.

More later
Greg

[Steph Mader]

Thanks Greg. I do wonder about how stiff that glass will be for casting at 1550 if the anneal is so high. Does it seem to fill the details okay though? Do you have a pic of the stuff you're casting?

It looks like I will have some Lenox soon, so I'll be able to keep casting with that for a while. It's a relief, since I have so much color that wouldn't be compatible with the Gabbert. But eventually I'll have to find something else to cast with. I wonder if I could get some struggling glass shop to make me a ton of lead cullet.

Steph

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Once I can find the cord for my camera, I'll upload some shots. I've been trying to get someone to build me a batch. The Gaffer is supposed to be a dream, but $5/lb is a little much until I start selling some of this stuff. I figure I could fire up a 20lb electric and make my own for less.

Ah well, time and money, never enough of either.

Greg

[Steph Mader]

Yeah, I splurged and cast some things with Gaffer a few years ago. It is really beautiful. The colors are all compatible and the pieces seem to glow from inside. But it is 45% lead glass, which means it's heavy. I cast a wheel that's around 16" in diameter and not very thick, maybe 1/2", and it weighed 17#. That's a lot of Gaffer, ouch.

I do like the wonderful color accidents that happen with powdered colors and clear cullet. I think I'd miss all that great mottling & streaking.

I did notice that Gabbert has colored cullet listed, have you tried that?

Steph

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Yep. I've tried 3; New Blue, hunter green and Vaseline. I'll try and get webshots to work and get some pics up. Or I'll post them at Craftweb. The New blue is a copper blue, very nice for thick/thin things. The green is definitely green, but no thick/thin diff. Vaseline is a striking flourescent green/opal cream, I'm not sure how it's going to work, we'll see when the ovens open.

Greg

[Steph Mader]

Oooooh. The vaseline glass sounds interesting, will you let me know when you cast that? I'm wondering if it will keep all its cool properties after casting. Did you say you soak at melt temp for quite a while? I usually soak 6-10 hours for a 8" piece in a 10" mold, and 10-12 hours for a 10 or 12" piece in a 12-14" mold. That seems to be sufficient. I'm wondering if the vaseline glass will keep its goods with that long soak.

Steph

[watershed]

Re:vaseline; TRhe current answer is NO, it won't. I have no idea where it strikes, but (this batch is still at 950degF) it goes opal. A very nice, slightly green opal, but opal.

Do I remember that you are in the NW?

If you woirk the phones, you coukld get Spectrum, colored ccullet. Or maybe just a road trip...

Greg