Hi everyone, I have looked through many, many interesting ideas on the forum, but none of them quite answer my query. Hope someone can help. I work in the main with Bullseye glass spending some experimental time on float.
I line my kiln with with 'thin fire' paper, and it always works well. However, I am sure I have read somewhere or someone has told me....., that you can either put dry builders plaster, or dry plaster of Paris on your kiln shelf, up to a few mm thick. .
You can then either have your glass have a smooth texture or whatever texture you create in your dry plaster shelf mix. Has anyone ever tried this, or would anyone like to recommend this to me, or maybe a similar material to place on my kiln shelf.
When I used to make stained glass windows, I used to put whiting on shelves inside the kiln to act as a base for firing stained glass paints and silver stain. I also experimented with making shapes from the whiting so that I could slump flat glass over them. Have a look at http://glass-suppliers.com/glass-process-3/process-3-3271.html Whiting is calcium carbonate and if I remember correctly. I mixed it to a thick paste with water and allowed to dry. I had free standing steel shelves specially made inside the kiln with a lip so that I could get a good depth of whiting and make sure it was totally flat otherwise the glass would deform to the shape of the whiting layer which was about 5mm thick.
Yes, you can use plaster of Paris either as powder, or you can pour it over a clay mould and then slump glass into it. For the latter you can make nice shapes in the clay - impressed shells, seedpods etc. Wear a face mask with dry powder. For a smooth finish Bullseye shelf primer is good - you can polish it up with a dry cloth after applying it. I find that thinfire is good for small pieces but less good for large - tends to 'drag' and give a rough texture in places.