Freemont Glass

[chris webb]

Does anyone know the COE of Freemont glass?

[Buttercup]

Have a look at the links on this page:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Freemon ... 8&oe=utf-8
Jen

[Bert Weiss]

Does anyone know the COE of Freemont glass?

Bad question. COE is not the only determinate of compatibility. The question you want to ask is whether Fremont is compatible with any other glasses.

I don't know. What I do know is that the beauty of mouth blown glass is diminished when fused, so it is a waste of money. Spectrum of the same color would look the same, more or less.

[Brad Walker]

Each sheet of Fremont is hand made specifically for use in stained glass projects, not for fusing. There's no guarantee it would be compatible with any other major glass (and probably not even with other glasses Fremont makes). It's such expensive and beautiful glass that most people would consider it a shame to use it for fusing. After firing it in the kiln, you'd most likely lose a lot of what drew you to the glass in the first place.

[charlie]

...and if it's a mixture of colors, it might not even be compatible with itself. i had that problem with some really beautiful kokomo. it basically powdered itself on the 2nd reheat/anneal.

[Kevin Midgley]

Had some Merry Go Round glass that crumbled after a single firing.
Had some Spectrum non fusible that just totally devitrified.
Have some glass, perhaps Spectrum, not sure exactly, but basically a non fusible glass that was fused and has 'glass disease'. I keep it in my studio and look at every once in a while to see how much it has crumbled apart since the last time I looked at it.
You could trade the Freemont to somebody else in exchange for something fusible.

[Leonard Cichowski]

I wasn't familiar with Freemont Glass, so I had to google. Found a 4:18 minute you tube showing the glass being blown and then converted to a sheet. Thought y'all might like to see the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_FyF01ua7k

Leonard

[Buttercup]

It's beautiful glass. I read an article about a woman who was framing sheets and shamelessly selling them as her own glass art.

I have a sheet purchased last century with a plan in mind, before I knew about COE and compatibility. Fortunately I procrastinated really competently so it's still intact. Maybe I should frame it? Jen

[charlie]

[quote="Buttercup"]It's beautiful glass. I read an article about a woman who was framing sheets and shamelessly selling them as her own glass art.

I have a sheet purchased last century with a plan in mind, before I knew about COE and compatibility. Fortunately I procrastinated really competently so it's still intact. Maybe I should frame it? Jen[/quote]

i've done that. i made a stand for a fish tank and instead of wood paneled doors, just used a framed single piece of glass as doors.

[chris webb]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm using it in wind chimes, it is really beautiful glass that is true. I'm pretty sure he uses 96 cullet but I am going to ask him to be sure. I believe the owners name is Jim, he was so kind to us when we just showed up at his studio/warehouse while visiting Seattle. We got to watch him blow several cylinders, then he took us around and explained to whole process. We bought quite a bit of glass because...BEAUTIFUL, who could resist.

[Brad Walker]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm using it in wind chimes, it is really beautiful glass that is true. I'm pretty sure he uses 96 cullet but I am going to ask him to be sure. I believe the owners name is Jim, he was so kind to us when we just showed up at his studio/warehouse while visiting Seattle. We got to watch him blow several cylinders, then he took us around and explained to whole process. We bought quite a bit of glass because...BEAUTIFUL, who could resist.

Just because he uses 96 cullet does NOT mean it will be compatible with 96 glass for fusing. There's much more to compatibility than COE.

[Bert Weiss]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm using it in wind chimes, it is really beautiful glass that is true. I'm pretty sure he uses 96 cullet but I am going to ask him to be sure. I believe the owners name is Jim, he was so kind to us when we just showed up at his studio/warehouse while visiting Seattle. We got to watch him blow several cylinders, then he took us around and explained to whole process. We bought quite a bit of glass because...BEAUTIFUL, who could resist.

Just because he uses 96 cullet does NOT mean it will be compatible with 96 glass for fusing. There's much more to compatibility than COE.

Glass made from a furnace in the morning may be incompatible with glass made from that same furnace in the afternoon. This is why Bullseye tests every tenth sheet off of their production line.

[Morganica]

As has been mentioned here, there's more to it than just COE, or even just compatibility. Compatibility you can test for--if you're curious, I think Brad's book talks about how to test for compatibility, or any of Boyce Lundstrom's books will. You can also just google it--it's not difficult or expensive to test batches of glass to ensure they're compatible before you use them, it's just a pain in the neck.

For me, the bigger problem is whether the glass will maintain the appearance you want after firing. Glass chemistries can change when heated, and the changes can be different depending on whether the glass is being heated for the first time, if it's an extremely fast, hot heat (as in a glory hole), if it's a low-temperature, prolonged heating (as in a kiln), if it's in an oxygen-free or oxygen-rich atmosphere...all sorts of variables.

Kilnforming glass is actually a pretty rigorous process as far as maintaining glass chemistry is concerned. Kilnformers routinely apply slow, prolonged heat to glass two or more times, and expect the glass to maintain its original color, transparency, and pattern (or at least to only alter those things in predictable ways), without devitrification or compatibility changes.

So some patterns and effects that are available to stained or blown glass manufacturers--like ring mottles--aren't available in fusing glass because they require a rapid heat, flash cooling, reducing atmosphere, or something else that would be destroyed in a kiln. Nor do mfgs worry about devit or opacification on subsequent firings of their glass, so maybe their glass will devit in the kiln...maybe it won't.

In any case, one of the real beauties of mouth-blown stained glass, that thin, almost faceted shadings of color, will almost certainly be lost when the glass is fired in the kiln. The glass will take on the shape of the shelf or backing glass and flatten out. If you want to try fusing a really beautiful piece of mouth-blown stained glass, test a small piece in the kiln first and compare it with the original.