My first pot melt

[Jon Wunderlich]

Well, I've have a bit of a problem doing a pot melt since my kiln is only 6 1/2 inces deep, (without the shelf). But I found some wide flower pots that were only 3 1/2 inches high at Walmart. I used my shelf but set it lower, (1/4 inch underneath), put the pot almost to the top of the kiln, (did not stack the glass all the way to the top). I ended up with a little more than 1 1/2 inches for the glass to drop and it worked. It is a little different from the others I've seen here and that could be from the shallow drop or the way I stacked the glass or both. I took it to 1680 for 40 minutes and pulled the pot out (wow), then took it back up to 1650 for a short time before annealling. It looks a little like an Iris to me but I guess it's kinda like looking at clouds. I've tried inserting the image into this post several times, several ways, but it's not working. Please click on my www at the bottom (it's called Flower pot drop). Click on the pic to enlarge.

Jon


[img]http://groups.msn.com/JonWunderlich/gla ... oID=23[img]

[Jim Wixon]

Really nice flow! What is the diameter?
jim

[Jon Wunderlich]

Thanks Jim,

5", I think I can go to 6" if I add a little more glass. If I get some longer supports for the pot I might be able to go to 7" but I don't want to pile the glass to close to the element. The picture dosen't show as much detail as you can see up close but I'm still working on my digital photography.

I'm planning on adding a 2" rim to it for a 9" plate.

Jon

[Kitty]

hey, i like the looks of that melt. i see the floral connotation, but it also reminds me a bit of a sand-dollar. i'm just getting ready to do some pot melts myself, but wonder about taking that hot pot out of the kiln. i live in an upstairs condo, so i can't easily take it outside. hard to decide what to do with a 1600F object indoors .... visions of dropping it on the floor, melting linoleum, torching wood floor, igniting the carpet and burning the place down. omg. maybe i need a container of vermiculite to set pot in -- if it won't set off smoke alarms. big kiln lives in the kitchen. any ideas? kitty.

[Diane]

Maybe this is a stupid question , but why do you take the pot out while it is hot?
When I did mine I just let it flow and then stopped it and let it cool down & anneal. It left a little curlyque in the middle but that went down when I did the second firing.

[Diane]

Maybe this is a stupid question , but why do you take the pot out while it is hot?
When I did mine I just let it flow and then stopped it and let it cool down & anneal. It left a little curlyque in the middle but that went down when I did the second firing.

[Clifford Ross]

all your pics look good- - - especially the two red-headed little plate holders.

[Jon Wunderlich]

Thanks all for the replies.

Good question about pulling the pot out. I asked myself that while I was doing it. It reminded me of saltwater taffy stretching and bending. Kind of surreal. I saw that in a post by Steve Immerman, (yet another pot melt), so I figured thats how it was done. I was also trying to stop the flow before it touched the support pieces but I had at least an inch on either side before that happened. I put the hot pot in a bisqueware bowl even though I fuse in the garage. Didn't want the pot rolling around or anything. It would be safer not to pull the pot out, in fact I'm doing another one tonight and I might just let it go.

The little red-headed plate holders are named Raleigh (4) and Charlotte (1). No, we're not from N.C. but I may start telling people that.
Thanks,
Jon