Slumping over Fiberboard (Duraboard HD) floral former
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 12:12 pm
For some time I had been looking for a taller floral former as the stainless steel ones that are sold are typically only 4/12" to 7 " tall and I want to slump some vases that are taller for taller cut flowers (Glads, Roses, Iris).
Well I bought a 24" x 48" sheet of 2" thick HD Duraboard so that I could make seemless kiln shelf to fit my Skutt GM 1414 coffin kiln. After trimming the board to size, I had some extra material left over.
I took the extra material and then cut four 2"x 2"x 10" inch sections.
I used stainless steel screws to screw the sections into a 4" x 4" x 10" block, tapered the block into a cone shape with a flat bottom at the both ends, used some of the dust material created while shaping the block to fill in the seams and screw holes then regidized and fired 1675 to burn out the binders and solidify the cone.
The result is a very sturdy 10" floral shapped former.
My concern is expansion/contraction characteristics of the Duraboard form material .
I know Stainless steel shrinks more than glass when cooling and results in easy removal of the former from glass that has been drapped/slumped over it.
How is the duraboard material going to behave. Right now all I have invested is time in making the former because all the material was scrap.
But I don't want to waste about 3 sq ft. of glass if it is going to get trapped over the former (or crack when cooling). I tend to slump so that the folds are tight and close to the former to provide vertical support to the stems of the flower being put in the vase.
I can always just take my chances and see what happens, but I thought I would post here in case anyone has experience with making draping moldes out of duraboard material.
- Al
Well I bought a 24" x 48" sheet of 2" thick HD Duraboard so that I could make seemless kiln shelf to fit my Skutt GM 1414 coffin kiln. After trimming the board to size, I had some extra material left over.
I took the extra material and then cut four 2"x 2"x 10" inch sections.
I used stainless steel screws to screw the sections into a 4" x 4" x 10" block, tapered the block into a cone shape with a flat bottom at the both ends, used some of the dust material created while shaping the block to fill in the seams and screw holes then regidized and fired 1675 to burn out the binders and solidify the cone.
The result is a very sturdy 10" floral shapped former.
My concern is expansion/contraction characteristics of the Duraboard form material .
I know Stainless steel shrinks more than glass when cooling and results in easy removal of the former from glass that has been drapped/slumped over it.
How is the duraboard material going to behave. Right now all I have invested is time in making the former because all the material was scrap.
But I don't want to waste about 3 sq ft. of glass if it is going to get trapped over the former (or crack when cooling). I tend to slump so that the folds are tight and close to the former to provide vertical support to the stems of the flower being put in the vase.
I can always just take my chances and see what happens, but I thought I would post here in case anyone has experience with making draping moldes out of duraboard material.
- Al