Ok to fuse without shelf on floor?

[Alexis Dinno]

Heya!

Here's my idea:

1. The floor of my kiln is ridiculously slathered in layers and layers of kilnwash (fired many times).

2. The kilnwash on the floor of the kiln is covered in a layer of thin fire.

3. I made a large ring-dam (about 22" diameter), which is (a) on the thinfire, (b) braced on the outside by four kiln bricks, and (c) padded on the inside by about 1" high of 1/32" fiber blanket/paper that has itself been kilnwashed. I've a GL24AT, while the ring fits the kiln, it does not fit the kiln shelf.

4. I have heaped then gently spread about 3/4" to 1" of frit inside the ring dam. I am guessing fused thickness will be 1/4" to 3/8".

My aim is to fuse a large blank, thence to slump.

Assuming I know my water squeeze, bubble squeeze, working and annealing temps, does this set up scream OH DEAR SWEET MERCIFUL HEAVENS THINK OF THE CHILDREN AND DON'T THROW THE SWITCH?

Or am I all good?

[rosanna gusler]

I would anneals a little extra because of using the floor. R.

[Bert Weiss]

90% of the time I anneal directly on the floor of my kiln. So for me, I anneal the same as I would on a shelf. The big deal you have to worry about is that firebrick is very sticky stuff to glass. I always have 1/4" fiber blanket on top of my firebricks. My kilns are 12" - 14" deep and have only top elements.

[Alexis Dinno]

Thank you both! I am going for it! Nice tip on just using blanket, too!

[Morganica]

Heya!

Here's my idea:

1. The floor of my kiln is ridiculously slathered in layers and layers of kilnwash (fired many times).

2. The kilnwash on the floor of the kiln is covered in a layer of thin fire.

3. I made a large ring-dam (about 22" diameter), which is (a) on the thinfire, (b) braced on the outside by four kiln bricks, and (c) padded on the inside by about 1" high of 1/32" fiber blanket/paper that has itself been kilnwashed. I've a GL24AT, while the ring fits the kiln, it does not fit the kiln shelf.

4. I have heaped then gently spread about 3/4" to 1" of frit inside the ring dam. I am guessing fused thickness will be 1/4" to 3/8".

My aim is to fuse a large blank, thence to slump.

Assuming I know my water squeeze, bubble squeeze, working and annealing temps, does this set up scream OH DEAR SWEET MERCIFUL HEAVENS THINK OF THE CHILDREN AND DON'T THROW THE SWITCH?

Or am I all good?

You're good as far as I'm concerned (especially since it's not my piece ). You might need to lengthen your anneal and process times for the additional insulation on the floor, but not by much. If you've got soft firebrick acting as a dam for the majority of the ring, though, it might get a little too insulated inside. I once built a saggar of soft firebrick for the second edition of a pate de verre piece, used the same schedule as I did for the first and shoved in the mold. When I opened the kiln, the frit was still pretty much frit except at the very edges.