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I have the opportunity to get several large pieces of low E coated plate glass for free. Is it possible to fire them in my kiln like any other glass or do they give off some sort of noxious fumes or have other problems? I,m thinking maybe I should pass on them?

Thanks for any help, Judith

Judith Andre wrote:I have the opportunity to get several large pieces of low E coated plate glass for free. Is it possible to fire them in my kiln like any other glass or do they give off some sort of noxious fumes or have other problems? I,m thinking maybe I should pass on them?

Thanks for any help, Judith

Judith

Go for it! I haven't played around with low E glass myself, but I', pretty sure it will fuse nicely to itself. The low E coating is "thermolytic" which means that it is essentially an enamel that is fired on.

I believe that you can get some "special effects" with the lowE coatings. Let us know how it goes. What thickness of glass are they? any should work.

Judith,

I have gotten some great results with low E glass. I was given a case of blue low E that had some how gone bad and was streaked and spotty, looked like it had been splashed acid rain. The sheets were 8' x12' so they were a pain ($) to move. Anyway, I believe the coating on these sheets contained silver. When fired, the resulting silver yellow stain on the surface made the glass a beautiful motteled iridescent green. The fired coating is subtle but shows very nicely on the blue base glass. I have not tried a clear low E so I am interested in your results, keep us posted. I seem get the best results when it is fired at 1450 and held for 15 min. The glass I have is atleast 10 years old so I am sure the newer coatings are different...

Steve

Thanks for the input. Guess I'll take it. At this point I don't have a clue what I'll do with it, but have been thinking of broadening my horizons a bit. I don't even normally use float glass. I usually use Bullseye. I just finally got both a digital camera and a scanner so now will have to figure out how to post some pictures. I work pretty much in isolation here in Nebraska, so this websight has been invaluable to me.

Judith

Judith Andre wrote:Thanks for the input. Guess I'll take it. At this point I don't have a clue what I'll do with it, but have been thinking of broadening my horizons a bit. I don't even normally use float glass. I usually use Bullseye. I just finally got both a digital camera and a scanner so now will have to figure out how to post some pictures. I work pretty much in isolation here in Nebraska, so this websight has been invaluable to me.

Judith

Judith

I understand working in isolation as I did it for most of my career. The good news is that you will come up with stuff that is unique to your experimentation. The other good news is that with this board, you have some very experienced people to share your successes and questions with. We are all learning about this together. Welcome to the "world wide warm glass research team!"

Bert Weiss wrote: Welcome to the "world wide warm glass research team!"

Great name, Bert... the WWWGRT! GRT for short. Prounced "Great." Or, on bad days, pronounced "Grate."

BTW, enjoyed hanging with you in PDX.... come back soon.

Barbara

I have slumped some older low E glass and it had some kind of film that cracked and changed color to a light brown tint with a little iridescense to it. Just in case, assume that it will give off a dangerous gas and vent. The low E glass I had was 1/4 inch thick. Wish I had more. Enjoy, Jolly

The glass in question is 1/4 inch thick, and, I think about 5 years old. About a half dozen pieces 5 ft x 5 ft or larger. luckily they are in the studio next to mine so don't have far to carry them. I don't have much experience cutting thick glass...guess I better check the archives.
Thanks again for the help and encouragement, Judith