happy unexpected result

ruthpowers · Post by **ruthpowers** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 9:48 am

I have been faithfully reading all the posts and learning so much from this discussion board. I want to thank everyone for all you put into this community. I started with a fusing class in June and am making jewelry--so far. Last night I had a happy "mistake". Bottom layer is Bullseye thick glass. Next layer is dichro on black. On top of that I put some (3-4 pieces on a 1/2" x 1" dichro) neo lavendar large frit pieces, hoping that they would spread out when they fused. The reason I did this was that the dichro is a bit rough when left uncovered and I didn't want to cover with a piece of glass because it seems to slide all over when fired. The result was very interesting. The neo lavendar remained as little balls on the surface of the dichro. The effect is beautiful. I am guessing why this happened. Can anyone explain to me why the frit remained as balls? Does this usually happen with frit over dichro? Comments are welcome. In Peace from Texas.

P.S. Hope you all are having a blast at Warm Glass Weekend. I hope to come to the next one.

Steve Immerman · Post by **Steve Immerman** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 9:59 am

Ruth,

Assuming I understand how you setup your piece up - the frit on top of the dichro behaves as if it is not in contact with glass - since it isn't. It's actually sitting on top of a layer of metal (ie the dichroic coating). So, instead of blending with the adjacent glass, it contracts and beads-up the same as if you had put a piece of frit on a kiln shelf and fired it. It wants to reach it's equilibrium thickness of 1/4".

In your situation, you do have to make sure that the little neo lavender balls are really stuck to the underlying dichroic, since there may not be too much glass to glass contact.

Make sense?

Steve

ruthpowers · Post by **ruthpowers** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:44 am

Steve, your explanation makes sense. The neo lav balls are well secured and have even made the dichro sink a little, like when you put a ball on a pillow. It is an interesting effect. Thanks.

Cynthia · Post by **Cynthia** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:43 pm

Ruth,

If you flip it and fire it face down (dichro and frit balls to the shelf side), you will get another pleasant suprise.

Playing is what it's all about.

ruthpowers · Post by **ruthpowers** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 2:06 pm

I will do that. I can hardly wait. Really. And afterlooking at some of the batch a little better, I saw that the ones that were placed on the edge of the dichro did other interesting things. Peace.

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 2:23 pm

ruth, you mentioned that when you've put clear on top, it slides around when it's firing. if you use Klyr Fire, you can get all your pieces stuck together, and nothing will slide around.