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If I'm making a mold for slumping, I saturate totally with the rigidizer, let the excess run off, then air dry. Here in humid North Carolina it takes about a week to air dry thoroughly; if you put it in a kiln to speed up the process (I don't), don't heat above around 300F. Also, you'll need to pref...

Bullseye tries to counteract it by offering high quality classes with honest technical information – not marketing hype. But how does the beginner distinguish the difference? If someone has that answer, I’d love to hear. It's not the answer you want to hear, but probably the one you already kno...

Brad, that's great news that the 2003 conference is on the East coast... I stand a much better chance of finally getting to attend! Is it your plan to have it in a different locality each year? I hope everyone will forgive me if I don't seem to follow BB etiquette at first.. this is my very first B...

Microcrystalline wax is what's generally recommended. "Victory brown" is the most common generic name. It's flexible at room temperature and can easily be molded by hand. You can get reasonable detail by carving (put in a refrigerator to harden a bit if you really want the most carved deta...

I've finally settled on dates and location for the 2003 Warm Glass Weekend conference. It will be held from Sept 11 to 13 at the Quality Suites in Arlington, Virginia (Washington, DC suburb).

More details to come.

Now that I'm going through my first year of paperwork and taxes as a corporation....I'm really wondering if all this work is really worth the protection. What kind of corporation -- "S" or "C"? I'm set up as an "S" -- the paperwork is minimal and my accountant charges ...

At the risk of totally overwhelming everyone, I've added two new forums, one for kiln casting and one for business topics. If you wish to see all the forums merged into one, just click on the "View posts since last visit" button at the top right of the Forum Index page and you'll see every...

I'm posting this for a fusing friend of mine who only has a Hotmail email address. I'm not really sure of such an animal exists, but she's looking for a source for pre-cut numbers in Bullseye. One of our local suppliers had stars (I have a sneaky feeling they sent out for those to be waterjet cut) ...

One of the things that Larry Fielder stressed in the kiln-building course I took at Carol Craiglow's a while back was that you should never rigidize the lid of a kiln. His view was that the rigidizer eventually gives way and causes even worse flaking and cracking. Larry felt that an HD lining (as yo...

Actually, it's a strange firing schedule and I'm not sure I understand the logic behind it either. Nevertheless, if a soak of 15 minutes at 1225 didn't work, then I would soak for longer at that temperature. In general, you need to know the type of glass, the thickness and size of the glass, and the...

And what temperature are you firing to?

I used to use (and still do occasionally) the small Silberschnitt "Studio Circle Cutter", but now mostly use the really large, mounted on a table "Professional Circle Cutter" that Bullseye sells. It's as big an improvement on the small Silberschnitt as the Silberschnitt is on cut...

I would tend to agree with Jackie. I would cast these shapes, not try to drop them through a ring. I have done that with holes as small as 1", but you need to very high temperature and a long soak. Even at that, you don't get much control and won't get the perfect shapes you're probably envisio...

Get elements from Duralite, Joppa Glass (Dudley Giberson), or Euclid. All three have web sites (on my Resource page), and all three will help you with sizing. Duralite sells quartz tubes, Dudley sells high temp porcelain rods that do the same kind of thing. The both sell buttons of one type or anoth...

The elements probably weren't pinned in by the factory. That's fairly normal for side elements.

Just get some element pins from any ceramic supply place (I get mine in Charlotte, but there's likely someone in Greensboro). Or get some nichrome wire and make the pins yourself.

Magnets don't stick to stainless either. BB Some stainless steel is magnetic and some is non-magnetic. The magnetic variants have chromium and sometimes carbon, the non-magnetic have more chromium and add nickel. It's the nickel that turns the material from magnetic to non-magnetic. Many good stain...

I am trying to decide between Jen Ken - Oval 13 and Skutt GM 1414 The basic differences I can see are : Skutt is SLIGHTLY larger (1 1/2"wider, 1/2"d&h) the electrical draw is less on the Skutt (34.7amps vs 45amps) Skutt comes with 13- 1" post Skutt comes with the GlassMaster Digi...

I am looking at two possible hotels for this conference. Both are Doubletrees and both are in the DC area. Both are very good facilities, but there are some differences. Hotel A is on the beltway, costs $89 per night (plus tax), and is two miles from a DC metro stop (shuttle is provided by the hotel...

Cork belts are available for the Covington wet belt sanders. Diamond and silicon carbide belts are also available, as well as felt and a few others I think. The Covington units are table top and come in both 3" by 24" and 3" by 41 1/2" sizes. (The larger units from Somaca et al h...

Inotherwords, should I really be messing with my pyrometer & all it's electronics or just know that at 1350° I get a really full fuse in my big kiln? I think this is on the right track. So long as you know how your kiln behaves at whatever temperature it says on your pyrometer, then it doesn't...