MELT FUSED INTO CRACKLED PIECE

[Havi]

WOW, I am so frustrated.............. just was going over my post, hit the wrong button on the keyboard, and everything just erased.

OMG, is there a way not to lose it completely?

photos will follow - - -

OK, back to work,
Hi guys,
MY final goal is to fuse meshmelt piece into crakled piece which i had done separately previously.
1. Took a rectangular 3 m'm piece of fiber. Drew on it a triangle and sprinkled it with powder. Wet it as necessary, broke it, as necessary - in order to make the crackles. then put on top of it a rectangular piece of glass.
it Broke
Is it a thermal shock?? , but I followed the firing instructions... or is it because only part of the fiber paper was covered with powder?
In other words - next time if I want to repeat this procedure - should I do the powdered - would be crakled part separately, and then fuse it to the general background??
2. Upon cleaning the crackled face, I realised that actually it could be fused like this. Of course cleaned and handled peoperly. And then, fuse the melt on top of it....

What do you think?
Have you got any advice / experience thatr you can share?

I'd be more than grateful.

Havi

[DonMcClennen]

Refusing with the melt is always risky...sometimes it works...sometimes they break.. The high temp. used to produce the melt sometimes will shift it's COE..thus additional fusing is not an exact science.In my experience working with melts should be considered experimental..don't bet on the results.. but enjoy the ride!
Good luck

[Sharol]

Hi Havi.

How thick was the powder in the triangular crackle section? If I am understanding the description of your layup, and depending upon your initial firing speed, the uneven thickness of the glass could have contributed to the break. My approach would be to apply powder to the entire rectangle of fiber. You can define the contrasting triangle using color and crackle just the area you want crackled, then cap the powder bed with the clear rectangle. This will give you a more even base to work with.

I think adding the melt on top of the crackle will be a trickier firing, depending upon the thickness of the melt. You will need to be careful with your schedule to compensate for the uneven thickness and to anneal properly. Melts are tricky sometimes to incorporate into crackle and you can't count on 100% success rate, but when it works it can be stunning.

I like where you're going with this design! Best of luck with getting the glass to cooperate

Sharol

[Havi]

Thanks, Don for the warning,
and thanks Sharol for the warning AND vthe encouragemnet!

The powder was not too thick, about 2 m'm, and your idea, Sharol must be right. I should have used transparent powder on the areas not meant to be covered with crackles. A bit hesitant, though, as I have bad experience, sometimes too much transparent powder becomes white. I'll have to think about it. A colleague of mine here suggested that the explosion was because of the dark color of the glass, he says I should have used clear transparent.

Yet, by now I was lucky to have 2 pieces where the 'melt' was properly fused into the glass. In one case it was full fuse, in the other it was tack fuse. Actually there is a third one which was conour fused [I should have stopped the process earlier, I was aiming at tack fuse, but this was really just an experiment]

The melt is 6 m'm thick. Those that worked for me were fused in a very very conservative schedule 30 dph Celsius [54F] up to 540 Celsius [I'll translate it to farnheit later] [1004 F] .the whole firing took 40 hours....
and also I shall post photos of these.

Sharol, I LOVE a lot the process of melt, its organic developement and the fact that partially it works on its own will. I want to work more with this. I want also to try the other way round - to make a big melt, and then, deal with this as a background to some 'normal' fusing. There is still a long way to go...

Thank you very much for your guidance, I would not have here, but for you.

Havi

[lorimendenhall]

I have no input but wanted to say I like your artistic idea here.

[Havi]

Thanks, Lori





Havi

[Lori Schinelli]

Hi Havi,
What color was the crackle? I work with Bullseye glass and my experience is that the white is so much stiffer than the dark colors that it has caused cracks like the one you describe. The 0013 is especially hard and refuses to move causing cracks when put with a softer glass. The 0113 is a bit better(not quite as stiff). But I think your local friend gave you good advice. Try again with a piece of clear or thin clear between the white and the dark color and use the white that is less stiff (0113). Very creative pieces BTW. -Lori

[Bert Weiss]

When it comes to cracking glass, stresses are cumulative. So a little compatibility stress, coupled with a little poor annealing stress, coupled with a little heat shock, can add up to a crack. Stresses can also be mitigating, when one causes tension and another counteracts with compression. The practical mitigation is always to slow down and lessen the heat shock factor, which is the one you have immediate control over.

Havi, sometimes, on my Mac, when I mistakenly loose a post, control x will restore it, when done right away. Not always though.

[Havi]

Lori,
Thanks for chiming in - the crackle was BE 0034 [which is also kind of off white] and the dark one was carnelian. So I think you must be right in your analysis of the situation. Tonight I am trying to re-fuse the carnelian 2 big pieces and unite them to one whole piece.
By tomorrow I hope the kiln will be cold to take it out - and try again another 0034 triangle on a rectangular fiber paper - covered with transparent glass. I hope it works - and then I shall fuse under it - carnelian or other dark color, and the melt on top of it - to find out how it works. Meanwhile I shall grind the edges of the melt on the WBS.

Thanks Bert for your imput either.

And many thanks to those who pm'd me, who added to my knowledge on the one hand, and encouraged my design ideas. I can't tell you how valuable to me this encouragement is.

I hope to be able to post soon some wonderful results.

Once I get better controll of the process - I shall start dealing with coloration too - This will be, hopefully a real festival.

Many thanks again,

Havi

[Buttercup]

Very colourful and exciting, Havi. Good luck with this process.

I can't offer any input into the glass question but having accidently deleted posts before, when I think I'm going to ramble on I type the post into Text Edit (on a Mac) and then when I'm happy with it, simply copy and paste it. That way I still have a back up copy if I mess up the actual post.

Quite often an accidental delete can be recovered by going to the drop down menus on the menu bar and hitting 'undo'. It's under Edit in Firefox. Jen

[Havi]

Very colourful and exciting, Havi. Good luck with this process.

I can't offer any input into the glass question but having accidently deleted posts before, when I think I'm going to ramble on I type the post into Text Edit (on a Mac) and then when I'm happy with it, simply copy and paste it. That way I still have a back up copy if I mess up the actual post.

Quite often an accidental delete can be recovered by going to the drop down menus on the menu bar and hitting 'undo'. It's under Edit in Firefox. Jen

Thanks, Jen
For the encouragement
and
for the advise.

Many thanks,
Havi