Monday, September 22, 2014

CONTINUATION OF POT MELTS

Not sure of what I put in before or what happened but here is the result of my latest pot melt
Because of the uneven edges, which I have ground as well as I can, and because of some spikes on the surface of the melt, I am putting it through for another firing.  Used Delphi Firing Screen Melt 2nd Firing as follows:

225 dph.................................1050 degrees...................hold 20 ins
800 dph.................................1465 degrees...................hold 30 mins
full...........................................900 degrees...................hold 1 hour
150 dph............................,.......700 degrees...................hold 1 min
off

And it worked, the pits and spikes in the melt, along with the rough edges, however for the uneven sides I placed some mixed clear frit, pieces both large and small, on the edges and they fused into an even more uneven edge.  The clear base that that I placed there fused well but there may be some scum on the surface.  Not exactly sure what to do.  Should I try to save it, grind the clear uneven edges, soak it in vinegar to see if I can remove some of the scum.  If that does not remove it place it in for another firing to remove devit, or just put it in a box to be cut up at some later point and try again from the beginning.  Somehow I want to take this through to completion.  That seems like good practice and maybe I will learn something, so I will follow the above steps and then slump it.

To clear off the devit I covered the circle with a layer of clear powder and have put it back in kiln to fuse to 1410 with a hold of 20 mins.  once it comes out, it is pretty thick.  I can slump it and will try.



 This is the next pot melt, using blue and green transparent, along with what looks like amber transparent.  Am going to melt it into a square former which I have lined with fiber paper.

So this came out looking like this:

For the pot melt I used the following firing schedule
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 
I simply changed it by not holding it 3 hours at 900 degrees and held it 2 hours instead.  This above piece could have benfited from more clear.  It is a little muddy and it had a spike and one corner of the glass looked like it had cracked some time earlier in the process.  So with all those potential areas that will not improve I am placing that in the kiln again and re firing it a 2nd time with the hope that the spike will smooth out, the sides repair themselves and the piece get a little thinner.   I am using the following firing schedule:

225 dph......................1100 degrees..........................hold 20 mins
800 dph.......................1465 degrees.........................hold 30 mins
Full ..............................900 degrees..........................hold 1 hour
300 dph........................ 350 degrees..........................Off

So here is what happened.  on the corner where the glass looked like it had cracked it was a lot worse
It is a mess and looks volcanic.