Creative Paradise Glass Fusing Texture Molds and those pesty unwanted bubbles

This post is for anyone who has Creative Paradise glass fusing molds, and are having trouble getting a bubble free slump.  After wasting a couple of pieces of glass, both 90 COE and System 96, I wondered why I wasn't able to get a good fuse without creating some big bubbles.

To begin with, I use ZYP or MR-97 as a kiln release on these types of texture molds so that I can get a lot of texture in the completed firing.  I wondered whether it could be my kiln release that was causing this condition.  It's not often that I create unintentional, large bubbles in my fused glass pieces, so that's why I decided that it was not from my kiln release, since I use it often without any issues.  A lot of time I fuse two sheets of glass together at the same time that the glass is slumping on a texture mold to save a step.

The Solution

1.  First fire together the two layers of glass that you want to use.

2.  To prep the mold, drill about four holes with a small drill bit to allow trapped air to escape from under the glass when fusing.  When drilling, drill from the front of the mold just in case some of the mold chips off when the bit exits the mold.  If the back of the mold is slightly chipped, there is no harm done to the texture on the front side of the mold.

3.  Place your mold on kiln shelf posts to elevate it to allow for more even heating from underneath.

4.  Finally place your pre-fired and fused glass blank on top of the texture mold (prepped and set up) in your kiln.  It will greatly reduce your bubbles.  Be sure to add a bubble squeeze in your kiln schedule both when you fuse the two layers together and for the second step when you fuse the double layer thick glass blank on the textured tile mold.

Colour de Verre Cabbage Leaf Mold Tutorial

Colour de Verre has a lot of really nice molds for glass fusing.  One of our favorite molds is their cabbage leaf mold.  Click on the link below, found on the Colour de Verre website, to learn how to fill this mold with frit and fuse.  Use the leaves to create beautiful bowls and plates by layering multiple leaves.

Click here to view the Cabbage Leaf Mold tutorial.

Slumpy's Bubble Technique Video

This is a great video to watch, it not only shows how to create purposely planned bubbles in fused glass art, but it also shows new glass fusers how to cut glass to fit their fusing molds!  

This is how Slumpy's described their video:
Learn how to create a one of a kind glass piece with bubble accents. Use clear glass stringers to create floating bubbles or contrasting stringer to create a grid bubble effect. Turn your glass 90 degrees to create a crisscrossed grid effect or 45 degrees to create a diamond grid effect. The possibilities are endless!

Watch the video here!

 

Weave molds - YouTube video

Want to learn how to use fused glass weave molds?   Watch this excellent YouTube video made by Glass Campus to learn the basics! 

Check out the video here, click here to view the video.

Devitrification on glass when doing pot melts into small molds

I have been experimenting with pot melts into some small molds that I have, but I always seem to have devit on the top side!  I have been looking online for an answer to what I'm doing wrong, but as of yet I haven't been able to figure out why this is happening.  

I found this post here:

"Paradoxically, aperture pours (pot melts) and high fire slabs, which are often fired above 1600F and held there for long periods of time,  usually resist devitrification. This is because the glass is continuously moving, flowing, and presenting new surfaces during the period of time the temperature is very high."

I'm thinking that the artist above is making larger pot melts or has a better kiln schedule!

So I discovered so far that it doesn't matter what type of glass I'm using, I always end up with devitrification.  I changed my kiln schedule so that I would quickly heat up the kiln to a slightly higher temperature than my original kiln schedule, that way I wouldn't have to hold it there as long, yet I still ended up with devit.  So right now the only solution I know of is to use a lap sander on my pieces, or sandblast the devitrification off.  

I am planning on manually venting my kiln down to the annealing temperature next go around to see if it makes a difference. 

If anyone has any suggestions, please comment below!  Thanks

Scrap Master, Cast-A-Cab molds

If you have a kiln and have a lot of scrap glass, then this is a great way to use that scrap glass to create really lovely creative fused glass pendants and more. The shapes available are heart, circle, square and tear drop.

Use with transparent and opaque glass to make your own unique glass pieces. These molds are for pot melts, yet small enough to fit in smaller sized kilns! Use MR97 Boron Nitride spray on all molds.

Fill the Mini Scrap Master with the glass scraps with the weights of glass listed below, then place the Scrap Master on top of the Cast-A-Cab mold in your kiln.

LF124 Hearts = 1.1 oz - 1.3 oz/heart,
LF125 Circles = 1.2 oz - 1.4 oz/circle,
LF126 Squares = 1.3 oz - 1.5 oz/square
LF127 Tears = 1.1 oz - 1.3 oz /tear

Use this Scrap Master suggested kiln schedule:

450 degrees per hr to 1660 degrees, hold 60 minutes
9999 degrees per hr to 1500 degrees, hold 30 minutes
9999 degrees per hr to 960 degrees, hold 90 minutes
100 degrees per hr to 825 degrees, hold 10 minutes
100 degrees per hr to 550 degrees, hold 5 minutes

 Mini Scrap Master

I found this tutorial yesterday on Lampwork.etc and thought my readers would like to try it out!  It was posted by fionac. 

Mini Pot Melt 

---

Go to the hardware/gardening store, buy 5 (you only need one but you're gonna get hooked so may as well stock up) 7.5cm (3") tall terracotta pots for a buck each. Grab DH's favorite chisel and a hammer and chip away at the bottom holes so it's a about 5cm (2"). Grab 3 busted ass mandrels and twist them together to line the pot



Grab a handful of shorts in complemenatary colors (try to avoid reds and don't mix sulpher and copper base colors ie Ivory + turq = crap). I use 250g (8.8 oz) for a 12.5cm (5") tile, dump them in the pot



use fiber or KL board to cut a square dam and place onto kiln shelf or another bit of fiber board. Don't use BE paper. Place it in the kiln



Ramp Full to 900C, hold around 30 mins, Ramp Full to 540C, hold 1 hour, Ramp 140C to 400C. Kiln OFF, if you are patient, don't open 'til room temp, if not crank the door 1" at 150C and 2" at 65C to speed it up

Kiln firing schedule for enameling

Most enamels applied to metals fuse between 1400 and 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.  Leave them in a digitally controlled glass kiln for two to five minutes, depending on the kiln.  If you are firing a transparent color onto copper, you will probably need to heat up your kiln hotter.  Testing and experimenting with your kiln will help you know what temperatures and times work best for your kiln.

Full fuse firing schedule for window or bottle glass

Ramp                                                   Hold Temp                               Hold Time

300/hr                                                   500                                            15 min

250                                                       1100                                          10 min

250                                                       1550                                           8 min

9999                                                     1030                                          20 min

50                                                          940                                            no hold

100                                                        740                                           off 

Kiln schedule for fire polishing hand-cut wine bottle drinking glasses

Ramp temp                      to                          hold

240/hr                             500 degrees          10 minutes

240/hr                             1275 degrees         5 minutes

9999/hr                           1030 degrees        30 minutes

150/hr                             850 degrees           no hold

300/hr                             650                        off

Pot melt project with flower pots

This is a FUN scrap glass pot melt idea that I saw posted on Lampworketc.com by 28676bhe.  

Go to Michael's and buy two of the small clay flowerpots - maybe 1 1/4 inches at the top. Ream out the hole in the bottom to make it a bit larger. Then stack them with the holes touching - one pot upside down on the kiln washed shelf, one pot upright.

Put some Bullseye glass in little pieces in the top pot - maybe just 2 colors and then one color of frit. Don't fill it up! A bit over half full is fine.

Take this up to 1600 DF and hold for 25 minutes, anneal @ 900 for 35 minutes.

You will have one fabulous circle pendant that is a swirl of the colors you chose!

Freeze and fuse firing schedule

This gives glass fusers an idea of a kiln schedule to use when making freeze and fuse pieces.  In the past I have tried the freeze and fuse technique, but I wasn't happy with the final outcome and I thought it was because of my kiln schedule.  I hope this schedule works better.  Remember to anneal at the annealing temperature for the brand of glass frit that you are using!

200 dph to 400 hold 30 minutes 

400 dph to 1320 hold 35 minutes

9999 dph to 960 hold 1 hour (the hold time depends on the thickness. 960 is Bullseye’s annealing point, 
other brands will vary.)

200 dph to 700 0 hold (for thicker pieces I go 100 to 700)

500 dph to 200 and off (again, for thicker pieces I slow this down as well)

Kiln fired frit painting, tutorial

We actually found this tutorial on the HGTV web page.  It just shows how popular glass fusing really is!  The completed piece is really pretty and looks fairly detailed.  They didn't give much of a fusing schedule but use a slumping schedule for the type of glass that you are using and it should work!  This also goes for window and bottle glass.  Remember that if you want to form a piece like this into something like a bowl or plate, do the frit fusing work first, then shape the glass.  It is easier to fuse frit when it is laying flat in a kiln.

Materials:

large sheets of glass
Magic Marker
powdered glass (frit)
sifter
gold leafing
glue
wooden backing
hooks for hanging

Steps:

1. Cut glass from larger piece to desired size.

2. Draw design on with marker. Reverse glass and trace over design. Turn glass over and wipe off first design.

3. With a tiny sifter and other tools, sprinkle the powdered glass (frit) into design areas like doing a paint-by-numbers painting.

4. Make a frame by cutting out red strips of glass from large sheet. Frame the edges of the large piece with the red strips.

5. Fuse in kiln at 1500 F degrees. This larger piece requires 24 hours for firing and cooling.

6. Glue gold leafing to back of glass and glue wooden backing. Place hooks on for hanging.

Bending the neck of a glass bottle tutorial

By Joshua Smyth, eHow Contributor

Glass bottles, once they've been emptied, don't need to become garbage. Instead, they can be turned into art -- plates, ornaments, and decorations -- through the process of "slumping," in which the glass is placed in a kiln and heated until it becomes soft.

With the right tools, you can even stretch the glass before it cools down. Heating the glass carefully will ensure that it keeps its color and texture while allowing you to reshape the bottle.

Examples of stretched bottles.

Sample picture of bent Corona Extra beer bottle.

Instructions

1 Clean your bottle thoroughly with soap and water, then let it dry before putting it in the kiln. Water will disrupt the process. While it is wet, scrub off any paper or plastic labels.

2 Buy devitrification fluid from a craft store and spray it on your bottle if the bottle is made of colored glass. This will keep the color consistent while you melt, reshape, and cool the glass.

3 Set a kiln shelf on the bottom of the kiln and cover it with kiln paper. You could also spray it with kiln spray. Either will prevent the glass from sticking to it as the bottle stretches down.

4 Hang the bottle by its neck from the top of the kiln. The easiest way to do this is to use a pair of pliers to cut pieces of coat hanger wire and loop them around the neck of the bottle, just below the wider part at the top of the neck. Do this several times, until you have 5 or 6 pieces of coat hanger wire wrapped around the bottle neck. Bend the wires downward so that their free ends extend several inches past the end of the bottle. You can then stand the whole thing inside the kiln. The bottle will hang from the wire loops and stretch downwards under its own weight as it heats up.

5 Set the kiln to warm at 500 degrees per hour. This is the safest speed to heat glass without risking thermal shock. (Reference 1) When the kiln gets up to 1100 degrees, stop the temperature increase for 10 minutes, then continue heating the bottle at a slower rate of 250 degrees per hour. (Reference 1) The glass will start to stretch downwards as the kiln heats.

6 Increase the heat as fast as you want once the kiln gets to 1300 degrees. Stop heating when the bottle has stretched to your satisfaction or it reaches 1425 degrees. (Reference 1)

7 Crack the lid of the kiln very briefly, until the kiln cools to 1100 degrees. This will keep the bottle from turning cloudy. Once this is done, just turn off the kiln and let it cool naturally back to room temperature. This is called "annealing" the glass, and is the final step. Once it has cooled, just open the kiln, pull out your stretched bottle, and use your pliers to remove the wire frame that was holding it up.

Patty Gray dam mold set-up information

We were excited to open our newly shipped order from our wholesaler D & L Art Glass Supply the other day because among other things,  we also bought two Patty Gray 8" x 10" x 1/2" fusing dams!  We've been interested in Patty Gray's fused glass techniques and work for some time now especially after viewing pictures from some of her classes!  Maybe someday we will be lucky enough to attend one of her fusing classes!  Until that time, we will be on our own.

To use as our own studio's future reference and for anyone else who reads our blog and is also unsure how to set up their mold, we thought it would be helpful to share this mold's set-up information especially since it has specific sizes and layout that should be followed!

This mold is designed to produce a glass slab 8" x 10" and up to 1/2" thick with rounded edges and will require no coldworking.  The glass can be used as a finished piece or slumped to shape or even be sliced into design elements for later work.  Use cut sheets, strips, scrap, frit, rods or any form of glass that inspires you.

New mold preparation:
Use MR-97 (Boron Nitride Mold Release for Glass Casting and Slumping)
Spray mold holding can and mold upright; only spray for 3 seconds.  Wait 5 minutes and spray again for 3 seconds.  Cut ThinFire, Papyros, or comparable kiln shelf paper to 7-7/8" x 9-7/8" and put on the bottom of mold before fusing.

Filling the mold:
Cut base glass to 8" x 10" and notch the corner (about 1/8") so the glass will fit into the tray.  Design your piece to have at least two layers of glass- up to 4 layers or 1/2" thick.

Placement in kiln:
For best results, elevate your mold from the kiln floor with kiln posts, placing the posts under only the edges of the mold.

8" x 10" Patty Gray Mold Firing Schedule

Degrees                Target                  Hold time
per hour                Temperature    

150°                      1000°                  15 minutes

300°                      1225°                  15 minutes

AFAP                   1470°                  30 minutes
As fast as possible                          

AFAP                    950°                    1 1/2 hours

100°                      700°                     10 minutes

Off

Open when room temperature

After the mold has been used:
Spray mold with MR-97 only lightly (about 2 seconds and only around the inside of mold edge).  Cut shelf paper to 7-7/8" x  9-7/8" and put on the bottom of the mold before fusing.  Cut base glass to 8" x 10" and notch the corner (like stated above) so that the glass will fit into the tray.  The design the piece as usual!

Update:  12/13/12

We think that it would be best to slow down the final ramp up temperature on thicker pieces.  We noticed that on one of our thicker finished plates that the center had indented and thinned out, it was possibly going to form a bubble in that area.

Perhaps it would help to ramp up 200°  per hour, to get to 1225°  .   Then instead of ramping up AFAP, (as fast as possible), to 1470°  we suggest the kiln be ramped up at approximately 400°  per hour instead.  

Kokomo Glass kiln firing schedule

Some General Information about Fusing with Kokomo Glass

Annealing Temperature for Cathedral Colors:

Anneal: 945 F
Strain Point: 872 F

COE: Generally in the neighborhood of 92-94, but you will need to test each sheet if they are from different runs. Even different runs of the same color can have significantly different fusing properties.

Annealing Temperatures for Opals:

Opal D Anneal: 891 F Strain Pt. 833 F
Opal M Anneal: 914 F Strain Pt. 851 F
Opal ML Anneal: 930 F Strain Pt. 862 F
Opal L Anneal: 936 F Strain Pt. 867 F

Typical Ramping Up?Allow 1 hour per ¼? of thickness. All kilns behave differently. Test in your kiln to adjust for faster or slower times. Projects with more surface area may require slower ramping.

Typical glasses will begin to sag at around 1050 F.
Annealing:Soak 1 hour per ¼? of thickness @ 945F
Ramp to strain point 872 F

(1/4" thick piece should take 2-3 hours)

Soak @ strain point 15 minutes per ¼? thickness
Ramp down to room temperature.
For ¼" thick piece, turn kiln off and do not vent until 250 F.

If you are fusing Kokomo glass, Experiment, Experiment, Experiment and Test, Test, Test. Some colors devitrify more than others. Reds and yellows hate to be fused.
Finally as to whether the ring mottles can be used in fusing: 
As far as slumping our glass, Kokomo has experimented with slumping our glass & have found that on the opals it is critical to catch the glass right when it falls then vent the kiln down to 1050F as quickly as possible, then follow your normal ramp down.

Youghiogheny Glass full fuse firing schedule

From room temperature to 800F at 300 degrees per hour, hold for 10 minutes
From 800F to1120F degrees at 300 degrees per hour, hold for 10 minutes
From 1120F to1250F degrees at 200 degrees per hour, hold for 10 minutes
From 1250F to 1560F fairly quickly, hold for 10 minutes
Crash from1560F to1020F and hold for 45 minutes
From 1020F to 800F at 60 degrees per hour hold for 30 minutes
From 800F to 300F at 100 degrees per hour hold for 5 minutes

Wasser glass fusing schedule

I have found this schedule works when I am fusing two and three layers of Wasser glass.

My schedule is in Fahrenheit, you can convert it to Celsius here. 

400° - 1335°, hold 15 minutes
9999° - 940°, hold 30 minutes
100° - 700°, no hold
200° - 500°, no hold

If you want to fuse very small pieces of Wasser glass together while keeping a defined shape, you will need to either not heat up your kiln all of the way to 1335° and/or not hold your kiln at that high temperature for the full 15 minutes.  

Easy (beginner) fused glass earring tutorial, video

This is a nice video for anyone that is wanting to learn how to make easy fused glass earrings in a kiln. It has some good information for people new to kiln glass.  Video made by Mark Lauckner.

Click here to view this video!

Celsius / Fahreheit converter for glass kiln users

This temperature converter works both ways (either Celsius to Fahrenheit, or Fahrenheit to Celsius), just type in the temperature that you have in either desired box below and get the corresponding converted temperature.

Insert a number into one of the input fields below:

degrees Celsius

Equals

degrees Fahrenheit