Drape stupid glass, drape, please

[Elaine Smith]

I have been trying, unsuccessfully , to drape glass over a mold. I have a paragon 16 kiln which is 6 1/2" tall. My first 2 attempts I used a 4 1/2" mold. The glass melted in two on top of the mold. Too close to the elements I've learned. My first ? Then is can I place the form directly on the kiln floor? Will that give me enough clearance? Should I put some kiln paper on the floor of the kiln? Yesterday I attempted again using a small clay flower pot as a form. I sanded the pot, applied kiln wash but it didn't seem to adhere very well so I placed a single sheet of kiln paper under a 5" sq piece of glass on top of the little clay pot. Fuse schedule : 325. 1000. 10, 600. 1260. 5, full. 960. 50, 150. 700. 10. However the glass was not draping at 1260 so I increased temp in 10-15 degree increments to 1300. Watching and waiting at 1300 for adequate draping, which didn't happen so I increased hold time in 5-10 min increments , I'm not really sure how long it held at 1300. ( I know, should've kept track, but it wasn't draping and I was frustrated) I think it held for 50-60 min. I hope the picture is attached. the front edge draped ok, but the back 2 sides look as if the fiber paper prevented the glass from draping. Any suggestions on how to successfully make a beautiful draped glass piece would be greatly appreciated. ( wow, sorry for the long post)

[charlie]

you need to turn your kiln upside down. it looks like it's trying to drape up.

[Elaine Smith]

Oh dear! How did that happen. I'm pretty good to get it to defy gravity , huh?

[charlie]

small things slump or drape slower and take more heat work to look the same as large ones. there's not much weight in the glass at the end of the tips to pull it down. the glass has to be more fluid to move. you have fiber paper under it, which could be holding it up somewhat too, although it's pretty soft when the binders are burnt out. generally one will only put a small disk of fiber paper just a bit larger than the bottom of the pot, otherwise the inside of drape picks up some of the paper roughness.