Oh no!!!! I was sooooo excited. I kept adding a little time and could see the slump going deeper and deeper. Then just when I thought it had reached the bottom, I realized that the whole thing had collapsed through the ring.
was your drop out a made clay one, does it have sufficient area on the outer sides to hold the glass up, guessing that may be the problem, try holding for longer at a lower temp maybe, just trying to help
Been there and done that! I had my first successful drop ring come out of the kiln this morning. (talk about a proud parent!) I've had drop rings crack and melt through. I've had them just slump right through onto the floor, as yours did. (Mine slagged over onto itself so all my pretty glass was face to face and fused!) I've had them overflow the top side of the ring and crack... In fact, this morning I had 2 projects in the kiln and the second drop ring partly melted through and made the bottom piece so wide spread that I had to break the glass to get it out of the drop ring! The difference between the two was 1 inch in height. Successful one was on 2 one-inch posts stacked on top of each other and unsuccessful one was on three-inch posts. Isn't it strange that one would work and one wouldn't?
Hang in there is my best advice.
I fire so slow it isn't even funny because the pre-fused glass is so thick. I think previous breaks were thermal shock in heating too fast.
HAHAHA... listen to me! One success to my credit but I'm tickled pink. Hopefully it will be the first of many.
Sue
The past is history,
The future is a mystery
And the present is a gift
For what you want to do, your 3/8" thickness should be fine. The mainthing I would have done different from what you did are longer soaks. I haven't tried a drop ring with float, so can't suggest exact temps.
Note that art glass will slump at a lower temp than float glass.
My first few drop rings were disasters, too. It just takes a few tries to figure out what works best for you.