So I know we don't want devit but is it totally bad.
In other words, if you have a little devit spot will it get worse or eventually crack the piece?
Do you always get rid of devit or do you just live with it sometimes?
Devitrification
Moderator: Tony Smith
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Kevin Midgley
- Posts: 773
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:36 am
- Location: Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
Re: Devitrification
I was given a piece of fused glass by a fellow glass artist where unknown glasses were fused. I have it wrapped in plastic wrap on one of my glass trays and every so often I look at it so as to see how far the glass has decayed. I has a well developed case of glass disease where the glass is literally turning white and crumbling.
The artist who gave me the glass may have high fired it prior to making the item bit I received and I believe the root of the problem centered around some opalescent glass that was used. Predominantly a Spectrum glass user, the artist is not sure that all the glass used was from Spectrum. Decades ago I fired a piece of Merry-go-Round glass only to find as a non fusible glass type that the beautiful dish began to crumble.
So I stick with Bullseye which is rated for the heat work of 3 firings, rarely fire past 2 firings of heat work and never do pot melts.
Devitrification can be beautiful such as in the works of Brian Blanthorn but one must be careful not to exceed the limitations of the glass with which you are working.
The artist who gave me the glass may have high fired it prior to making the item bit I received and I believe the root of the problem centered around some opalescent glass that was used. Predominantly a Spectrum glass user, the artist is not sure that all the glass used was from Spectrum. Decades ago I fired a piece of Merry-go-Round glass only to find as a non fusible glass type that the beautiful dish began to crumble.
So I stick with Bullseye which is rated for the heat work of 3 firings, rarely fire past 2 firings of heat work and never do pot melts.
Devitrification can be beautiful such as in the works of Brian Blanthorn but one must be careful not to exceed the limitations of the glass with which you are working.
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Chris Lowry
- Posts: 51
- Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:35 pm
Re: Devitrification
That is interesting as I've never seen a piece of glass crumble away.
I mostly ment... If I fuse a piece of bullseye glass and it has a tinny little devit spot on it. Does that little spot get worse over time or does it stay the same?
Now I make sure to polish out or sandblast away all such spots, but just wondering if it's as bad as I think.
I mostly ment... If I fuse a piece of bullseye glass and it has a tinny little devit spot on it. Does that little spot get worse over time or does it stay the same?
Now I make sure to polish out or sandblast away all such spots, but just wondering if it's as bad as I think.
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Kevin Midgley
- Posts: 773
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:36 am
- Location: Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
Re: Devitrification
It depends.....
If you have coated with something like a water soluble borax then over time it may change.
The Blaschka specimen collections are gradually falling apart but like the earlier story, they formulated their own colours.
Using Bullseye probably not...... so long as it has not exceeded the heat work Bullseye tests for.
I like devit on some things but not all.
Clean your glass well and you probably won't have it.
If you study how you get it, then you will be able to prevent it or encourage it in the future.
Jordan Kube's fossils in a neighbouring post for example might be a good place to showcase devit and to make them more realistically old for in some ways perfection is not desired or wanted in something like that.
Who has ever heard of an absolutely perfect fossil?
If you have coated with something like a water soluble borax then over time it may change.
The Blaschka specimen collections are gradually falling apart but like the earlier story, they formulated their own colours.
Using Bullseye probably not...... so long as it has not exceeded the heat work Bullseye tests for.
I like devit on some things but not all.
Clean your glass well and you probably won't have it.
If you study how you get it, then you will be able to prevent it or encourage it in the future.
Jordan Kube's fossils in a neighbouring post for example might be a good place to showcase devit and to make them more realistically old for in some ways perfection is not desired or wanted in something like that.
Who has ever heard of an absolutely perfect fossil?