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I have a builder that is interested in my making 20 plates for gifts for builders with a theme of "nails". I'm pondering different techniques for making a mold. I've thought of welding an assortment of large nails (not sure what metal will work) together to make a frame but not sure of the melting temp of the solder. Any other ideas?

kiln carve it.

trace the outline of a pattern of nails on 1/8" thick fiber paper. cut out with razor knife.

slump float glass on this surface.

the melting point of solder is 450-500F depending upon ratio of lead/tin in it.

Thought about that, but that would be a one time use. Looking to make 20 the same. Also thought of spraying kiln wash on nails and slumping over them. That way I could get more firings. Not sure what kind of nails I could use. Is one type of metal better than another????

you'd never get the nails out of the glass, and it would cause cracking due to coe differentials.

you can reuse fiber paper a couple of times if you're careful.

press them into a slab of clay or something else and make a mold. make sure you don't press them far enough to make an undercut, or you won't get the glass off the mold.

cut a stencil and make powder wafers of nails. Make wafers for the 20 plates.

Barbara

charlie wrote:press them into a slab of clay or something else and make a mold. make sure you don't press them far enough to make an undercut, or you won't get the glass off the mold.

I'd go one step further. Press them into a slab of clay, then dam around the clay and pour wax into the impressions. When the wax hardens, remove it. Do this as many times as you wish, and then cast the plates in an open face mold using the lost wax process.

The Warm Glass Gallery has a great piece by Fiona Richter that was made this way using shells instead of nails: http://www.warmglass.org/gallery/GalRichter1.htm

Barbara Muth wrote:cut a stencil and make powder wafers of nails. Make wafers for the 20 plates.

Rather than powder wafers, consider just using a stencil and sifting or painting directly on the glass. Or screen print.

Lots of ways to pound these nails.

Thank you, Thank you, all great ideas, I'll try them

Or glue them on a board in some neat pattern, then make a whiting bed in the kiln, press the nailboard into the whiting bed to get the nail impressions, then slump over that. We've had good luck slumping a footprint with a nailhole using this procedure. And, of course, there's always painting.....

Sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by a whiting bed. What is whiting and where can you get it?

calcium carbonate. it's used to make lines on football fields for one thing. you can get it cheaply in large bags, in farm stores for example.