Pressing glass into a mold?

[Tod]

I've been searching the archives a bit looking for info about pressing warm glass into a mold. Would the Castalot (mentioned in a recent post) work for this? Any suggestions about how to "press" glass into it? Maybe it would just flow when heated?

I have hundreds of glass nuggets from Pellisier (?) from about 30 years years ago. About 100 are very dark purple; I want to thin 'em out so light will get through without needing the July sun behind them. They're the larger size; about 1 1/4" dia or so. I thought I could make a mold and somehow press the nugget into the mold which would make it thinner and larger. Sounds so simple....

Also, could I make a hanging hole in some of these while melting them and, if so, how?
I don't yet have a project planned; I may try making them into a regular shape and leading some into a window. Not sure yet.
Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated. - Tod

[Morganica]

Depends on the shape you want to end up with and how fussy you are about texture. Lots of ways to do it, though. The easiest is to just space them out on a (well-kilnwashed) kilnshelf and fire them in a kiln with a normal fusing schedule. They'll naturally try to flow out to a uniform 1/4 inch thick and make nuggets again. You can control the shape and thickness by stopping the process when it's right before wherever you want them.

You could also get flatter, more regular nuggets by putting a second kilnshelf on top of the nuggets and firing--you'll wind up with wafers. Or you can make a mold in the shape you want with something like Castalot, and give them a hot full-fuse schedule. They'll flow into the shape naturally. Again, if you want perfectly flat top and equal thickness, you could put a kilnshelf on top of the nuggets in the mold and fire that way. If you use a mold, you could make one with a peg in the nugget space and get the mold much hotter--it'll flow around the peg (which becomes a hole).

However you do it in a kiln, the nuggets will take on the shape of whatever's touching them during firing, so the bottoms of the nuggets won't be shiny and will have some texture. (Same if you put a kilnshelf on top)

You could also just mash them a bit in the hotshop, if you've got access to the hotshop--that's more likely to preserve the texture through the surface.

[Tod]

Thanks, Cynthia.
Your info helps and I think I'll avoid at least one unexpected result.
I like the idea of "mashing" - I am a leaded glass guy but work with lots of irregular glass, esp antiques, so consistency is not a requirement.
I have a few graphite blocks and was thinking about carving one with some sort of design and mashing the melting nugget with a plain one. I wasn't sure if the melting nugget would just flow into a cavity or if I needed to force the issue.

In a few weeks, I'll have a chance to try something and report back here about what I've done and the result.
While I'm not really a "warm" glass guy, I think this is the best discussion board online and have said so many times.
- Tod

[Cheryl]

check out www.fusedglass.org and take a look at Paul Tarlow's process for Kiln-Pressed Glass. Could be just the ticket for getting the maximum purple out of that glass!

[The Hobbyist]

For the 2005 Magless Exchange I cast a hundred or so litlle 1.5" flowers as part of the design. I encountered a problem with the small open face mold not filling the edges because of surface tension.

Here's a picture of the flower. I won't post them here but I have a nine pic series showing how I made it work. Essentially it was the pressed casting process that you are interested in. Send me your email and I'll send the pictures.

Jim

[The Hobbyist]

Tod, I tried sending the pics and process info but the email gets bounced back. I need a workable address. I sent you a PM but I can't attach pics to it.

Jim "The Hobbyist"