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I recently purchased a small bottle of Hanovia glass gold and a Kemper tool. The shop where I purchased them did not know how to use them. Do I apply the gold and then fire in kiln? If so, at what temp and for how long?
What general precautions should I take? Any help greatly appreciated

Elizabeth Villarreal wrote:I recently purchased a small bottle of Hanovia glass gold and a Kemper tool. The shop where I purchased them did not know how to use them. Do I apply the gold and then fire in kiln? If so, at what temp and for how long?
What general precautions should I take? Any help greatly appreciated

elizabeth

There are different formulations. One is made to fire on glassware without slumping the glass. It fires in at 1050ºF. Another is designed for pottery, it fires in hotter, I'm not sure the right temp. You can use either one on your glass if you fire it to the right temp. The tolerances are fairly tight. If you overfire it it turns pink and disappears. If you underfire it it rubs off.

I would try and contact Hanovia to determine which formula you have and get their recommended firing schedule.

Hanovia Glass Gold information.

http://www.clayartcenter.com/glaze_hanova.htm

Hanovia Glass Gold fires to cone 022, see the chart near the bottom of the to convert to temps.

There is a mistake in the chart, the temperatures given should be f and not c.

ron

Both formulations work well over a range of temperatures from around 1150 to 1450. To use the gold, use a toothpick and dip it into the liquid lifting a small drop out with the toothpick. Touch the wet toothpick to the inside of the barrel of the Kemper gold pen. Two or three drops will go a long way. Flush the pen barrel with Hanovia Gold Essence by dipping the entire pen barrel into the essense... I use a glue syringe to blow the essence through the pen, but you can use a cotton swab as a plunger to force the lquid through the tip.

Tony

Also...shake the small bottle often...the metal settles quickly.
If you use a brush for application..save it and use it for the gold ONLY. You do not want cross contamination. Normal painters turp can also be used to clean tool and/or brush.

Tony Smith wrote:Both formulations work well over a range of temperatures from around 1150 to 1450. To use the gold, use a toothpick and dip it into the liquid lifting a small drop out with the toothpick. Touch the wet toothpick to the inside of the barrel of the Kemper gold pen. Two or three drops will go a long way. Flush the pen barrel with Hanovia Gold Essence by dipping the entire pen barrel into the essense... I use a glue syringe to blow the essence through the pen, but you can use a cotton swab as a plunger to force the lquid through the tip.

Tony

Just to clarify what Tony explained. Use the Essence to clean the pen or to thin the luster. Flushing the barrel with the essence is for cleaning when done. The thin wire tool that came with your pen is for reaming out the nib while cleaning. clean 'til you can't see any more brown stain when essence is applied. That way you won't risk clogging up the nib with dried luster. You can use turp for cleaning instead or essence, but for thinning the gold luster, use only the gold essence.

Practice drawing a few lines and dots by putting the nib of the pen on the glass and see how much flow you get while the pen is resting on the glass. Touch the nib down for little dots, hold it there to make larger dots. You'll get the feel pretty quickly.

I now have access to screen printing for firing gold on glass, but when I was starting out and using brushes, this site was very helpful.

http://www.porcelainpainters.com/GOLD2.html

Jim Wixon wrote:Also...shake the small bottle often...the metal settles quickly.
If you use a brush for application..save it and use it for the gold ONLY. You do not want cross contamination. Normal painters turp can also be used to clean tool and/or brush.

i use the end of a very thin stringer to get the liquid into the kemper pen as that doesn't seem to absorb any of it.

also, i think the gold isn't in the liquid as a suspension but as a solution. there isn't anything settling out in my bottle.

If you're firing to the higher temps, try firing the gold face down on fiber paper or blanket.

I apply Hanovia designs to 3/16" and also 1/4" thick float glass and do a fuse/slump combo. To get float glass this thick to soften and bend, I'm working in the 1500 F + range, where the higher heat can make the gold burn away and disappear. By placing the gold face down on the fibered kiln shelf I never lose my design work and the gold comes out shiney and bright.

Gale,

I've been thinking about doing something similar to your fiber blanket method as a means of signing my work. I was wondering whether the metalics would cure if one simply signed the back of a piece with gold or platinum and then slumped into a mold as usual. Have you any experience with this?

Cliff

Cliff,

As long as the gold or platinum is dry when you handle the piece and put it into the mold (so you don't smudge it), the metallics will mature at the slumping temps, up or down.

Tony

Cliff........Ditto on Tony's comments.

You can fire the gold face down on fibers, kiln wash, sifted alumina or whiting. It's your choice as to what type of fired glass surface you desire. The glass & gold will pick up the texture of your seperater.

I have to disagree about shaking the bottles of lusters. These are metallics in suspension and do not need to be shaken, nor should they be. If you shake the bottle, bubbles form which will burst and leave pin holes in your application.

Avery

Brock wrote:I have to disagree about shaking the bottles of lusters. These are metallics in suspension and do not need to be shaken, nor should they be. If you shake the bottle, bubbles form which will burst and leave pin holes in your application.

Avery

right idea, wrong word.

suspension means that pieces of gold are present and floating, eventually settling out.

solution means the gold is chemically part of the liquid, and can't be removed without other chemical or physical means.

D'accord!

Avery

Liquid bright gold is a solution and does not need to be shaken. I just got a bottle off e-bay that was 50 years old and had thickened, but nothing settled out. Liquid burnish gold has fine gold powder suspended in it, will settle and needs to be shaken.

Can the Essence which I've used for cleaning with 2 bottles of Hanovia Gold be used for anything, like tinting?

try one drop on a piece of scrap and fire it in the kiln.
May be gold or may be ...... purple!!!!!
Purple means keep cleaning brushes in it.

be prepared for your studio to smell up quite a bit. leave a window open, run a fan.

Nina Falk wrote:be prepared for your studio to smell up quite a bit. leave a window open, run a fan.

Also vent the kiln up to at least 900ºF, to insure a complete burn off of the organics. Not venting can result in scum baked in to the glass.