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It's not too hard to make your own out of ceramic clay. Just roll out a uniform slab ot the thickness you want, cut out the inside and outside shapes allowing a little for shrinkage, dry then fire to 1700-1800 F., kilnwash and use. Or, you might find a nice greenware shape at a local hobby ceramic s...

The fact that the glass is breaking and moving outward until it slumps over the edge of your molds and even contacts the kiln elements clearly indicates that the breakage is from thermal shock in the heatup stage. If you were close to the kiln you should be able to hear the glass break and move. Wit...

Kerin, a little more information would help us help you. What cone clay was your greenware made of? What was your slumping schedule, rate of rise, target temp, hold time for each segment? The rate of temperature rise is as important to know as the final temperature. With this information we might be...

Cricket, has any of your glass been fired yet? The square edges seem to suggest it has not been fired yet. Do you plan to tack fuse the design to the base glass before slumping it ovet your fiberpaper mold? In your photo of your mold it looks like some places have 3 layers of 1/8" fiberpaper. I...

In my experience working with ceramics most lusters fire to cone 019-020, much lower than fuse temps. I would suggest that when using lusters you fire no hotter than slumping temps or even slightly cooler. The makers of halo lusters suggest only applying it over black or very dark colors because the...

Two sources for polarizing film are American Science and Surplus, http://www.sciplus.com/ and Edmund Scientific, http://scientificsonline.com/default.asp?

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Melissa, I am venting the kiln from startup unti 1000 F. Yes, there is some smoke from the wood before that temp. Sara, sorry about calling you Geri. Yes, you are welcome to visit my studio if you have time while you are in Houston. Address is 1509 W. 34th. St., Houston 77018. Phone is 713 682 7858....

Sounds like silver stain. Have you ever fired anything with silver on your kiln shelf?

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Tom, if your snake chain is flat rather than round perhaps you can find a balsa wood strip used for model making which will give you the right sized and shaped hole for your chain when the strip is coated with bead release. I like the bead release coated wood for making holes across pendants because...

I have mounted a 120 volt bi-metal infinite switch and a regular duplex 120 volt outlet in a deep square electrical box with a 6' cord to plug into the wall outlet. The kiln plugs into the controlled outlet and this allows me to slow the rate of rise somewhat. Paragon sells the equivalent with the s...

In my small (6"x6"x6") quickfire tabletop fiber kiln it is hard to fire slower. I use pieces of 1 1/2" square regularly to test new colors or ideas. My larger ceramic kilns will not fire that fast.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Ellen, I think that Jerry was suggesting that if the piece had actual bronze metal on the surface you could use one of the many available solutions to patina the metal surface to the green or blue color of weathered bronze. Since you have no metal on your cup this suggestion would not work for you. ...

My guess about how this works would be that as the steel reacts when the edges of the glass are sealed it robs the oxygen it needs to rust from the copper oxide on the surface of the copper thus brightening the copper.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

If you would supply a little more information about the shape you wish to form we might be able to offer suggestions for a mold. In general usage metal forms are better if you plan to drape glass over the top of them because the metal contracts more than the glass as they cool allowing the mold to b...

David, do a Google search for free photo hosting. Pick one (I've seen Webshots, Picturetrail and Yahoo most often here). Sign up. Create a gallery open to everyone. Upload your pictures. Copy the link to your gallery and paste it in your post to WGBB.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

I have good results using original Unique Glass Paint clear from Unique Colors. http://uniqueglasscolors.com/glasoriginal.htm I clean the copper well, apply one coat clear and fire to full fuse for float glass. You can see pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/tomwhite2

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

Most any ceramic supply house or local ceramic studio should have ceramic clay available. I am used to working with low fire ( Cone 04-06 ) earthenware clay. Clay without grog will be smoother than clay with grog in it. Paperclay is ceramic clay with paper fibers blended into it. It is a newer mater...

Heather, what I was trying to say is that slumping glass does not normally involve stretching the glass. I had envisoned a rectangular cross section rather than the triangular shape you describe in your second post. I still think this form will involve stretching the glass to some extent. The shape ...

At least you still have K Mart. They have pulled out of all large cities in Texas. The nearest one is over 120 miles from my house.

Best wishes,
Tom in Texas

The shape you describe does not lend itself well to glass slumping. In normal slumping procedure a glass blank is heated on top of the mold shape until it softens and conforms to the shape of the mold below it. The deeper the mold the more the change in size of the slumped item from the original bla...