MESH MELT, POT MELT

I made my own mesh using 1 inch thick fiber board with strips of 3/8th inch fiber papers strung across and secured by steel pins used in sewing.  I choose blue opaque with violet transparent and clear.  I used medium pieces of glass, going for big swaths of color, but I like it better with more mixing of colors and less separate blocks of color.  To fire it I used the following schedule:

500 dph...................................................1000 degrees..........................hold 30 mins
225 dph..................................................1225 degrees...........................hold 60 mins
Full..........................................................1595 degrees.........................hold 45 mins
Full..........................................................1475 degrees.........................hold 30 mins
Full............................................................900 degrees.........................hold 45 mins
100 dph......................................................700 degrees.........................off

The original firing schedule had me go up to 1600  degrees but I did 1595 instead.  You can see from the top picture that a lot of glass was still stuck to the mesh.  Additionally I had a few bubbles in the piece.  Thus I am not going to mess with original firing schedules until I try them first.  This piece was pretty, no black flakes in the glass from the stainless steel screen that I have.  I did knowingly use less glass than I was supposed to because I wanted to be conservative and so it came out a little uneven.  So I have ground the edges of the piece, it still isn't much of a circle and tomorrow I will fire polish it, using this schedule:
150 dph................................1000 degrees.................................hold 30 mins
Full.......................................1400 degrees.................................-0-
Full.........................................900 degrees.................................hold 60 mins
50 dph....................................800 degrees..................................-0-
100 dph..................................700 degrees..................................-0-
Off

and then I will add a layer of clear glass to the bottom, and fire it to a full fuse using a ramp of 100 dph for segment 1.  The firing schedule is as follows:

100 dph.................................................1000 degrees..........................hold 30 mins
225 dph..................................................1225 degrees.........................hold 60 mins
Full .......................................................1475 degrees..........................hold 20 mins
Full.........................................................900 degrees...........................hold 45 mins
50 dph.....................................................800 degrees..........................-0-
100 dph...................................................700 degrees..........................-0-
Off

Thank goodness for time to think.  I read my instructions over again and saw the steps for putting a transparent rim on your finished mesh melt.  The first step is to grind the piece after the melt to get rid of uneven edges.  The second step is to full fuse that piece on your piece of glass which is 1/2" larger than your piece and the third step would be to slump it, if that was the way you wanted to go.
I am currently fire polishing the piece after grinding its edges trying to see if the fire polish, which apparently works only on the surface, will get rid of the big bubbles which are now on the top of my piece.  If, as I am hoping, the fire polishing gets rid of the bubbles I will slump this piece and put a rim on my next piece.

It did not get rid of the bubbles, but serendipitously Stephen Richards wrote the following in his blog.  I hopte to remember this:

When using textured glass there is a decision to be made on whether the smooth or textured side is up.

"Oddly, the largest, but thin bubbles occur when putting the smooth sides together. it seems that as the glass is not perfectly flat, it holds air within the fused piece.

The fewest bubbles seem to be promoted by placing the rough side down on all pieces. This is easy as cutting is done on the smooth side anyway, and so no reverse cutting is required. It seems that the rough side of the glass provides ways for the air to escape during the bubble squeeze although it does promote micro bubbles within the glass.

If more bubbles are desired, you can place the textured sides together. That seems to allow the majority of the air out, but still leaves the micro bubbles from both sheets.

I have had good results following the Bullseye recommendation to keep the smooth side up on all layers. "

So finally after some deliberation I have decided to try and grind the piece a little longer and then slump it.  Results to come. 

Ok, the bubbles remained.   I have tried to grind it to a more perfect circle but it is quite far away from that so I will slump it in 
 This is relatively deep, so i will use a hold time of 15 mins.  Otherwise the schedule goes as follows:

150 dph..........................1000 degrees.......................hold 30 mins
100 dph.......................... 1200 degrees......................hold 15 mins
Full..................................900 degrees.......................hold 1 hour
50 dph..............................800 degrees.......................-0-
100 dph.............................700 degrees....................-0-
Off

 I have great hopes for this pot melt.  I broke down and bought some pots because these are only 2 inches high and so can be put on supports and still not be too high for my shallow kiln.  There are 6 holes and it is about a 6 1/2 inch diameter circle by 2 inches high.  I am putting a little over 10 ounces of blue and green transparent along with clear glass, elevated somewhat off the kiln shelf.  On the shelf I have a 6 1/2 inch diameter circle of clear glass 2mm thickness over thin fire paper.  My shelf's kiln wash is a little rough in some places and I did not want to re-coat it with kiln wash just now.  I will be using the following firing schedule tomorrow;

250 dph.....................................1100 degrees..........................hold 15 mins
450 dph......................................1680 degrees.........................hold 1 hour
Full.............................................1520 degrees.........................hold 15 mins
Full ............................................  900 degrees..........................hold 3 hours 
100dph..........................................800 degrees..........................hold 1 hour
100 dph.........................................650 degrees..........................hold 15 mins
off 

Pretty, but a corner of it broke off.  I think that was because it came in contact with one of the posts that was holding out the pot melt pot.  I will try to grind it down to a better shape, soak it in vinegar water, and fire polish it and then slump. 

NEXT POT MELT

  I fired it using the firing schedule on Bonny Dune Molds Pot Melt Tutorial and it came out well with only a few bubbles.  I wish I could get rid of those and will keep looking for some option.  Fired it as follows:

250 dph...............................1100 degrees.....................hold 15 mins
450 dph...............................1685 degrees......................hold 1 hour

That looks okay, the design came out better and now I put it over my cherry blossom mold.  I used the following firing schedule:  300dph..................1360 degrees...............hold 20 mins; 300dph..............1450 degrees...................hold 5 mins; Full.....................900 degrees....................hold 1 hour; 100dph.................700 degrees...........Off






                                                                                        So next i am fusing on the 4 pattern mold two rectangles of 3 1/2 inches by 7 inches; one has a bottom layer of clear 3mm covered by 3mm red transparent.  the other has 2 layers of clear 3mm covered by thin green transparent which will be a total of 8mm.  That versus the other thickness of 6mm.  So one of the issues I will look at will be how different thicknesses work at the same time.  I am  guessing not well, and I should have realized that but I did not think of it.  So I am firing this at:

300dph.....................1360 degrees ....................hold 20 mins
300dph......................1470 degrees                     hold 10 mins
Full...............................900 degrees...................hold 1 hour
100dph..........................700 degrees......................off             

    I will be slumping it into a mold something like that.

The 8mm thick piece came out the best but I think overall that my problem has been too hot and holding too long and I should be doing one project at a time unless the two projects I do are exactly alike.  Armed with this information I am going to slump the 4 patterned texture CPI mold into a dish shape.  See above .  I will use a modified slump firing method as follows:

350dph.............................1100 degrees..............................hold 10 min
500 dph.............................1220 degrees     .........................5 min
Full....................................900 degrees................................1 hour
100 dph.............................700 degrees.............................off

The mold I am using is a little deeper than previous mold but the glass is heavier so hopefully it should all work.                                        

ADVANCED FUSING CLASS WITH LUCIE BOUCHER

Went to Waterville last Saturday and attended an advanced fusing glass taught by Lucie Boucher.  She was smart and funny and gave me quite a few ideas about new techniques to try.  I took pictures and will try to remember all the things she said.  :

The first picture is for the SMASH technique.  As you can see in the above picture, Lucie has placed several small pieces of colored glass over a round clear blank.  She placed that on a kiln shelf and placed small layers of fiber paper on the corners.  Over that she puts a shelf which is weighted down by kiln furniture.  And she fires it with the following schedule:

300dph......................................................1225 degrees...........................hold 3 hours
Full............................................................1500 degrees...........................hold 1 1/2 hours
Full..............................................................900 degrees...........................hold 2 hours
100dph........................................................700 degrees...........................off

Lucie said she broke her kiln shelves when she used this technique.  I tried to find this technique on the internet but was unsuccessful.  I didn't try searching with the term smash.  Will try now. No more information on this technique.  I guess I will have to try it myself.

 Above is example of kiln shelf on top of other kiln shelf with glass pieces on it.

This is most interesting.  I believe she called it Flow Fusing.  The first layer on bottom was 6mm clear; second layer was stringer and noodles; 3rd layer was 3mm clear.  She said it was 6 or 7 layers.  She put piece down on kiln shelf, but one side was elevated and during fusing the molten glass flowed to the lower side.  In fire polishing she went real slow; 20dph and held it at 1000 degrees for 4 hours.  She did cold working with a lap grinder, first using a 20 grit and working up to a 400 grit. 

The above image and following images are what I believe is a murrini maker.  I have a smaller version of that.  This one was steel which she lined with fiber paper. 

The above is working with fiber blanket to make a mold.  You place kiln furniture on the kiln shelf and toss the blanket on top of it, then place your glass over that.

Examples of all the pieces, the yellow dish using pattern pieces as well as the small blue dish and the piece furthest back, Lucie made with 1800 stringers.  Finally she talked about Hotline Mold Hardener.  Pour it on and press with a rolling pin.  Get it saturated.  Let it sit til its dry enough to cure in the kiln.  The advantage of this is that you can get a smoother surface than with the fiber blanket. 

All in all it was a wonderful class.  I enjoyed Lucie and she gave me lots and lots of information. 

FULL FUSING TWO LAYERS

I fused this 2 layer piece design down and placed a piece of white on top of it.  The bottom layer had 2 pieces of blue placed on either side of a small red piece.  All pieces were 3mm thickness.  The design side came out well, the three pieces appear to fit together precisely.  Often when i have tried to get all the pieces to fit together and placed them on top of the base it did not work so well.  Design down works.  Corners are round, sides smooth; all has fused together.  No extreme bulges on sides, however there is a slight bulge, hardly noticeable on the red edge.  Perhaps the red piece was a little longer than the surrounding blue pieces.  Regarding color, the blue and red are transparent.  By placing them on opaque white, the blue and the red become a little creamier looking.  i do not like the combination of the three colors and think that the white base is too much.  I would have preferred it with a clear base which I ma thinking would have continued the transparent aspects of the glass throughout the whole piece.

The firing schedule was as follows:

400 dph....................................1225 degrees....................hold 30 mins
600 dph.....................................1470 degrees....................hold 10 mins
Full...........................................900 degrees......................hold 1 hour
100 dph....................................700 degrees......................0
Full.............................................70 degrees........................off

Slumping botanical pattern mold and fighting Devitrification on smaller pattern mold

I continue to have a devit problem.  With the deeper pattern molds I have lowered the processing temperature and brought the hold tie way down low.  I can lower it even more and will try this when next I use the deep pattern mold.  But to begin today I am slumping an already completed piece.  I will use the following firing schedule:

200dph.............................1220 degrees.....................5 min
Full.....................................900 degrees.....................1 hour
100 dph...............................700 degrees....................Off

Once i finish slumping I am thinking of using the cherry blossom fuser again, with one layer of clear and then one layer of clear and red glass on top.  I changed my mind about using the red and clear glass.  Did another design of white mixed with a clear glass with red and brown and white stringers on it and I put clear glass as a base.  Thinking of full fusing the whole thing first and them putting it on the mold .  So I am full fusing layer of clear glass and another layer of several pieces(2pieces of white and one piece of clear with stringer glass) on the bottom.  I am placing it on the bottom to see if I can get a more fully fused piece with better lines.  Then after fusing I will put it on the cherry blossom mold and fuse that.

So I will be looking to see how the design and the mixture of the glass works when I put it on the bottom and full fuse it first.  Often when fusing a solid piece as the base and mixed pieces on top those pieces to not fit together very well and appear to have spaces.  Perhaps putting the mixed pieces on the bottom whilst fusing them will allow them to fit together better.  Tomorrow I will spray the cherry blossom pattern fuser and place the new double pieces fused today on top of it.  Lets hope it all works. 

I love screen melts

So back from Florida, we had a great time, and I am once again looking at screen melts.  Following instructions in an e-book downloaded from Helios Kiln Glass Studio on Fused Glass Mesh & Trough Melts, I created the below piece of glass. 

The picture is a bit distorted, on its side, but the glass itself came out ok, unfortunately filled with black specs from the iron screen and a little uneven but good overall.  I am now fire polishing it to see if I can get rids of some of the little glass mountains on the top and smooth it out.  To fire polish I used the following firing schedule:

150dph.............................1000 degrees........................hold 30mins
Full...................................1400 degrees........................0 mins
Full.....................................900 degrees........................hold 60 mins
50dph..................................800 degrees........................0 min
100dph.................................725degrees........................0 min
0ff

So the fire polishing did not a huge job but I suppose that is a good thing.  There was a small rise or bump on the top of the piece and it somewhat modified that but it is still there.  Now I am going to slump it with the following firing schedule:

150dph.........................................1000 degrees.................................30mins
100dph..........................................1200 degrees..................................5mins
Full..................................................900 degrees.................................60mins
50..dph............................................800 degrees..................................0.
100 dph...........................................725degrees....................................0.
Off

There are several issues that I will be looking at here.  This slumping schedule, is quite different from the standard slumping schedule suggested by Bullseye.  I increased the 2nd step hold time to 5 minutes instead of 3 mins because it is a deep mold, but all of the slumping of the glass may have been taken care of in the hold time for step one which is 30 mins.  The other consideration is the unevenness of the piece itself.  Will that cause the finished piece to be unbalanced.  I bet it will.  Should I have put a border around it like discussed in the e-book.  I will look at that again and finally what about the black flecks and the little bump on the top.  What do I think about all those imperfections.