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I have been reading through the archives about fire polishing and am wanting to clarify steps before I move forward.
I have a 12" x 12" fused piece (BE clear base with opal white cap, orange and yellow mardi gra strips and various small strips of multiple colors and stringers throughout. It has a been through a full fuse on thin fire so shelf side is not bad but not glossed. I want to slump into a BE rectangular mold with 2 1/2" sides but wanted the piece to be glossy on both side.
Question is can I flip and fire polish the previous shelf side, then turn over and slump without losing any polish from either side?
Being new I have not acquired any blasting equipment or wet belt sander.
If I need to hand polish it with something like those diamond pads I will certainly try that. I am assuming that would be done prior to the slump?

Bruce-It can be very difficult to bend glass without any marks, the exception being very shallow contours with large pieces of glass, and ring forms. Windshield makers get around this by using positive and negative forms that give them the ability to bend at a much lower temp by mechanically manipulating it. Doing that in kilns, at the scale most of us work at, is impractical, so either cook lower and hold longer, or try something like Back Magic, a low cure temp glaze that won't give a high polish, but that some like better than the form marks. Even if there were some way to eliminate form marks, there is still the artifact of whatever you have fused on, so if you flip and polish you will pick up marks on the bottom side.Cold working is always an option, but it can take a long time.

dadll wrote:I have been reading through the archives about fire polishing and am wanting to clarify steps before I move forward.
I have a 12" x 12" fused piece (BE clear base with opal white cap, orange and yellow mardi gra strips and various small strips of multiple colors and stringers throughout. It has a been through a full fuse on thin fire so shelf side is not bad but not glossed. I want to slump into a BE rectangular mold with 2 1/2" sides but wanted the piece to be glossy on both side.
Question is can I flip and fire polish the previous shelf side, then turn over and slump without losing any polish from either side?
Being new I have not acquired any blasting equipment or wet belt sander.
If I need to hand polish it with something like those diamond pads I will certainly try that. I am assuming that would be done prior to the slump?

You will soon learn that some effects are achievable and others are elusive. As far as texture goes, my approach is "if you can't get rid of it make it interesting" In the end I think interesting texture is way better than glossy.

If you want it glossy on both sides your most likely options are: a) extensive cold work on the second side or b) learn how to blow glass. However if you become a good glassblower you will soon tire of the shiny and want one side of your glass matt. It's a vicious cycle.

Thanks you all for your quick responses. It sounds like my best option since the back has a decent matte to it is just keep the polished side up and go to the slump now.
Thanks again.

Bert Weiss wrote:In the end I think interesting texture is way better than glossy.

I enthusiastically second this.

I've only recently started experimenting with "texturizing" the glass's surface. It adds an entire other dimension to the medium -- possibilities are as endless as with color and form.

Lately I've been working on lamp designs (there's a recent pic in the Photo forum here: http://www.warmglass.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3618). Transparency and texture -- bending the light -- has become somewhat of an obsession for me these days.

If anything, I'm finding I have the opposite challenge -- trying to get texture on both sides of the glass is also a challenge

- Paul

Paul Tarlow wrote:

Bert Weiss wrote:In the end I think interesting texture is way better than glossy.

I enthusiastically second this.

I've only recently started experimenting with "texturizing" the glass's surface. It adds an entire other dimension to the medium -- possibilities are as endless as with color and form.

Lately I've been working on lamp designs (there's a recent pic in the Photo forum here: http://www.warmglass.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3618). Transparency and texture -- bending the light -- has become somewhat of an obsession for me these days.

If anything, I'm finding I have the opposite challenge -- trying to get texture on both sides of the glass is also a challenge

- Paul

Paul

I recently did a test that got deep texture on both sides. The first side was enameled with a water based medium and oversprayed with pearlex mixed with squeegee oil and thinned with luster thinner. Then I flipped it over, enameled and pearlexed the other side and fired it again, on a sand mold with pits in it. It ended up with dairly deep protrusions on both sides. The mica proteccts the enamel from the firing surface.