Suggestions for a newbie

Started by Glassy Lou, August 17, 2013, 12:14:39 PM

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Glassy Lou

I picked up my second-hand SC2 yesterday and I've placed an order with warm glass for a few bits and bobs to get me started with fusing. However, I'm itching to do something today (mainly to make sure the kiln works ok) - is there anything anyone can recommend that I can do with the rods I currently use for lampworking?

Lou

helbels

Hi Lou

You can just cut up some lampworking rods into short lengths (all the same size), and then lie them side by side in the kiln. You can then melt/fuse them down to form a coaster!

Helen x

Glassy Lou

Thanks Helen,
I'm doing a small-scale test. Not expecting much, just hoping I don't make a total mess  :P
It's more to make sure the kiln is working really... Watch this space.

Lou x

Pat from Canvey

Try to make sure your shelf is level and get some dams to stop the glass flowing where you don't want it to. An old kiln shelf cut up with a tile saw will do the job. Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

Glassy Lou

Thanks Pat - I know absolutely nothing so your help is most welcome.
I made a couple of conservative attempts and fired them overnight. I just opened the kiln and I'm very happy with the results. Nothing special design-wise but not a disastrous start either. At first it's all about confidence for me, so getting this first time out of the way has helped enormously.
I'll post a pic later. X

Glassy Lou

Well here are my first efforts:

DSCN6395 by GlassyLou, on Flickr

I have a few queries based on the results so if anyone has the time to reply I'd be grateful for any more advice.

The pieces are still a little bumpy on top (the bits of green stringer on the dark purple piece are still raised). I can feel ridges of the individual rods on the back and you can see the rod lines still clearly defined. I actually quite like it this way, but I wonder have I not taken the kiln hot enough, did it just need to hold longer at the top temp or something else?

I know it's trial and error and I'm more than happy to keep adjusting until I get it right. I'm assuming I can put these pieces back into the kiln and re-try it...

I used a schedule I found on here for fusing 104 and I'm using a SC2:
Ramp 1 250 to 715C - hold 25 mins
Ramp 2 60 to 515C - hold 60 mins
Ramp 3 60 to 370 - hold 0

cheers guys

Zeldazog

Hi Lou

I am assuming you're working with COE 104 rods?  They fuse lower than Bullseye - which if you wanted a totally smooth finish you would take to around 800 (my kiln likes 797 C

I've only worked with 104 in murrini, but I find that it will full fuse and round off nicely at the same temperature I tack fuse Bullseye at, anywhere around 760 to 780.

All kilns are different of course, but even with a 104, your temperature wasn't high enough to full fuse.

Yes, you can put them back in and retry.


Re: your schedule, you ideally want to ramp down as fast as possible from process temperature (in your schedule, your ramp 2) to annealing zone.  With most fusing, you can do the anneal cool down (your ramp 3) a little faster than you do with lamp-working (working in the flame induces far more stress into the glass than fusing), I use 83 dph.

HTH

Dawn


PS love the one on the right!

Zeldazog

Oh, and I tend not to hold that long either - it's usually around 10 to 15 minutes - the less amount of time your glass spends over 670 degrees (well that's the start zone for Bullseye) the lesser the likelyhood of vitrification.

So a higher hold at temp 1, but a shorter hold. 

Glassy Lou

Thanks very much Dawn, that's really helpful. I've changed the schedule for today's test.
So for my ramp 2 how quick would you go? I'm still figuring this new (to me) kiln out.


Zeldazog

Quote from: Glassy Lou on August 18, 2013, 02:03:09 PM
So for my ramp 2 how quick would you go? I'm still figuring this new (to me) kiln out.

Depends on your kiln - some say FULL some say the actual top reading (999/9999), I think some say AFAP (as fast as possible)

But to be honest, unless you crash cool a kiln by opening the lid wide open (which I was told not to do with my Hotstart as it risked making the lid brittle and I've not tried it on my Hobbyfuser,  and I would never recommend it for a front opening kiln) none of them actually cool at that rate - I program mine to cool at something like 600 dph which allows the kiln to cool at a natural rate.  The SC2 will almost certainly cool quicker than the Hobbyfuser but I don't know how fast - so you can either set it to full, or a higher figure like I do.  Either way, you can certainly go faster than 60dph in that first cool down.

Hope that makes sense, Lou

x

Glassy Lou

That makes perfect sense. Thanks very much Dawn x

Glassy Lou

At the risk of embarrassing myself, here's the second attempt - please don't laugh (well, you can if you want - I did!)


day2 by GlassyLou, on Flickr

I went up to 800 this time which I think might have been a bit high. From left to right I was aiming for: a teal freeform pendant (the rods were lined up horizontally, but intentionally left uneven vertically); a brown diamond with turquoise centre (I think the bit of rod on the left-hand side must have rolled away at some point, detaching itself and making a dot); and a red heart (again the rods were arranged into a sort of pixelated heart shape).

Also, I noticed the thinfire paper had curled up around the edges of the shapes - particularly on the red piece, it looks like the edges have been etched...

I'm going to continue with little experiments until I get the schedule right, but I promise I won't bug you all with them here. I'll blog about it or something.

Thanks for all your help so far.  ;D


Pat from Canvey

When I want to turn a wonky/just plain ugly bead into a cabochon, I use 785 deg c in my sc2. I just use my bead annealing programme and change the 520 to 785 deg c.

flame n fuse

yes, thinfire does curl up sometimes, I use a bit of unwanted glass  or a duff broken bead to weigh down the corners