Update - on fusing - and the wine bottle slumping problem

Last week I posted that I ran a clear wine bottle slump onto my ceramic pattern mold and it cracked

I ran the cycle that worked perfectly when my studio was about 65 - 70 F   from  6:15am  

thinking that the cool down late at night caused the cracking - was about 55F when I went in to see the next morning -  hmmmmmmmmmmm

I had a suggestion from Rose Mary Clay to adjust my schedule and add further cool down - so that it was slower -

Before I did that I ran another Green Bottle slump on my ceramic patter from  night to morning - thinking the day would be warmer - same temps around 50-55 F

NOPE - it cracked - even more - but I did notice it was sticking more to the mold
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

On the weekend I warmed up the studio by turning on the heat friday night and putting another wine bottle on - a clear (not that it really matters
changed the cycle since it was warm to sit and do in the stuido so that I added another couple of segments and time for holding -

so excited saturday afternoon- to open and it was again cracked - hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

noticed again harder to get pieces off -  I cleaned and sprayed the Boron on for every firing -  thinking maybe not enough

so now I need to do a slump WITHOUT the pattern mold and straight onto the kiln shelf with kiln fiber 

I had turned off the heat last night - so the building cooled down to about 45F this morning - and 

Voila - the bottle was fine -  

so .........

I need to double check how much boron is actually getting onto my ceramic mold - am I possibly not getting enough on (I've made about 10 with no problem - with one only the weekend before the trouble ) 

it also could be the glass being fine on expansion but the ceramic piece not expanding and contracting in the cold the same -  

any way - had fun - cleaning the studio - moving things around - bringing the last of the electronics - liquids down to the house for winter  - I'll only take things up and put on heat when it might be sunny weekend and it helps heat the studio 

I'll need to clean up the basement studio so I can at least torch 

got a great haul of bottles on the weekend 

10 clear wine bottles and some more of the green glass sparkling water bottles  and a cool liquor bottle 

these are the wine bottles I bought - got  48 of the 1L (left ) and 96 of the 750ml (right)

and deciding on the next kiln 

either a pargaon 19CSD (double opening ) or go for the 26"  

I am thinking the 19 for the next intermediate then I'll go for the  BIG kiln 

DONT FORGET THE GIVE-A-WAY !!!

GET YOUR NAME IN FOR THE GIVE-A-WAY FOR NOVEMBER -   GO TO THE GIVE-AWAY THREAD - SEE SIDE BAR AND CLICK HERE 

JUST ENTER YOUR NAME !

No Boho today just a Boo Hoo

Well its officially too cold to fuse in the studio now -  I had a wine bottle in the big kiln yesterday - when I got home it was still 320F  and when I left for bed  it was down to 225  so I left it till this morning

Rushed up at 6:10 to pull  it out and possibly put another in -  - it had cracked - the studio was 55F - a tad cold and probably brought it down too quickly  at final cooling.

so unless I warm the shed (oops studio)  up on the weekends I'll have to wait to do it then

Picking up  144 wine bottles tonight -  at least I'll be ready to go for spring

Boho #3

Got to etch, cut and make a ring - even got the pattern from  Leslie last week

so now mine will actually look like everyone's  first rings
Same as before - I cant stop using the dichro cabs - I have a few ......

even got to cut another couple from the left overs - smaller saddle rings

Finished Boho #2

Finally this morning - turned on the heaters last night - lovely this morning - finished soldering the back of the ring little embellishment, tumbled and fitted the dichroic glass in the bezel

the first pic is when I was partially done - note the color of the  glass - very transparent

 same piece of dichroic glass just the background has been darkened

small flower from shot plate

I colored the back of the bezel  with a black sharpie and used a bit of j-b weld to hold the stone in place (not finished quite burnishing it down - waiting for the glue to dry

but you can see the extreme change in reflective color from the glass

NOVEMBER 2015 - GIVE-A-WAY

November give-a-way is now closed

YES !!!!  I am doing a Give-A-Way in November !      A FAT CAT PENDANT

Has a little articulated mouse hanging from the bottom

Same rules as before:

  just make a comment here on this thread and I will pull a name at random on the 1st of December  

No cost to you and I ship anywhere in the world to the winner

Just be sure your blog comment has a link to your email address- no anonymous please  - update your blogger information as sometimes its hard to find you 

Have a great month !

November Give-a-Way is now closed

HAND OF MAN BOOTH SET UP

Here is what my new booth set up looked like

Cons - didnt like the feet extending into other booth so I had to pull them in - which made my booth smaller

cons- not sure of back end set up with small table - maybe none at all or shorten and give myself 2ft at the back of the 10ft  and this way the whole back is available to use -  ahhhh will have to wait for sprint to set up outside and see how it goes for testing

Pros' - love the fact that everything can be seen - its hard to choose when things are packed tight on the tables or not at eye level