Texture / kiln carving

[Suzette A]

This is really two questions but they are related.

I recently fused some cabachons with textured dichroic glasss. I dont have the exact schedule with me but the schedule included a slow ramp and hold and a fusing temp of 1450 with hold, plus bubble squeeze and slow down.
In any case the textures of the dichroic remained (all the top layer). I was surprized by this, I had expected to lose the texture. How / why was the texture preserved?

Secondly, I want to create a plate that has been kiln carved with frit sandwiched between 2 layers of glass with a final slump. I am trying to imagine the end result based on firing sequence. Just imagining the end result, I imagine my best approach will be to fuse the frit to a single layer of glass, then kiln carve this sheet with a top layer at the same time.

Alternatively, I could kiln carve with the frit in place as a single layer and then cap the slab in a second firing. In all cases I belive 3 firings will be best (slump the last firing).

Am I on the right track with my thinking?

Thoughts appreciated.

[Stephen Richard]

Suzette
We really do need the firing conditions -which are more than schedule. The lay up, the glass manufacturer and styles, the kind of kiln, the separators, etc. - any of the conditions that you can think of. 788C does not sound high enough for a full fuse. What kind of glass are you using?

Kiln carving.
Why put the frit between layers? Asking for lots of bubbles around the frit pieces. If you are looking for a smooth upper surface, you can achieve that with the frit on top and at a full fuse temperature.
Although it depends on how deep the kiln carving will be, you could have the layup (from shelf upwards) of fibre paper shapes, two layers of glass, then frit. Use a slow rate of advance to about 680C to allow the frit to laminate to the glass before any rapid advance. If the carving is relatively deep, then do the carving and without moving things, add the frit in a second firing.
Kiln carving on a single layer is unlikely to be successful.

[Suzette A]

Thanks for you comments. Newbie experiements are rather fun are they not?

I stopped being a ninny and just ran some test tiles. I learned a lot!

Oh and to be clear 1450 was my best guess when I did not have the schedule handy but the actual fuse temp was 1475. I was at work and did not have my notes.

Anyway, I ran two test tiles as I described in my original post. One just a slab with frit between 2 layers, the other with 1/8 inch fiber paper for kiln carving.

Oh my the bubbles! I might actually want to repeat the purposefully at some point. But obviously the three layer set up did not work for a bubble free slab.

I decided that for my little firefly kiln I will need to slow down the ramp a little. Especially when I make my actual plates.

I was surprised by how deep 1/8 inch really is. The design for my test kiln carving was pretty inelegant but 1/8 inch is quite chunky and I wont be using it for my final design!

I was suprised by how each frit color reacted. The actual colors didnt change but the volume of frit for desired color is much higher than I suspected. I was much too conservative with amber and too liberal with cherry red.

I know this is all fusing kindergarten but its rather exciting to me. Im enjoyimg my self immensely.

[Valerie Adams]

I like kiln-carving with 1/16" fiber and sometimes even a layer or two of Thinfire (stuck together with a light film of Spray Mount adhesive). Eighth-inch fiber is fairly deep to me too.

[Morganica]

A long time ago I did a blogpost on kiln carving portraits with ThinFire, moved it over to the new blog a few weeks ago: http://www.morganica.com/glass/fusing/k ... -thinfire/

A friend (Carol Carson) was teaching a kiln carving class last week and used the test samples from that post so I took another look at them: They have up to 10 layers of ThinFire stacked, like topographical maps of faces, and then clear glass laid over top. I used 6mm Tekta to avoid the bubble issue for the blogposts, but later just prefired two clear 3mm sheets for the same effect. I'd intended to use the ThinFire impressions the way you would cloisonné "cells," and fill them with powder, but I liked the effect so much I left them alone.

The ThinFire makes nice, sharp line drawings, surprisingly clear; the thicker fiber papers look very coarse and pillowy beside them.

One thing I did discover and didn't talk about much in the post: Using thicker fiber papers tended to trap more bubbles in the piece if I didn't create "alleys" to the edge of the glass, allowing the air to escape. Most times I could get around that by slowing down the firing so that the center glass sagged first, pushing air out to the edges. If that didn't work, I used chads at the edges (which didn't show because it's all clear glass and I was coldworking the edges anyway).

Anyway, it was a nice experiment. If I were doing this again I'd probably get a cutting machine (like a Silhouette or Cricut), start cutting and stacking ThinFire in earnest and really see where this technique could go--cutting all this stuff by hand was a pain.

[Bert Weiss]

I like to kiln carve witbh 1/32" 970 grade paper. I can stack it as thick or thin as i want. Essentially these papers are sold by the pound, so thinner is cheaper. I suppose if I stocked thinfire, I would be using that. I agree that the thinner papers leave a plenty strong readable line.

With my float glass, I wouldn't hesitate to do a single fuse/kilncarve firing.

[Suzette A]

Thanks for all tge comments regarding thin fire. I have a slab with frit in the kiln right now. Ill be refiring this slab with 1/16th inch fiber paper and well see how it goes.

Morganica, I have seen that blog post regarding the many layers of thin fire. Very inspiring work. Although I won't be using it in this project, I can imagine this teqnique to capture very fine details like feathers or fur. I do not, however, have the skill!

[Valerie Adams]

Costco has a pretty sweet bundled deal on the new Silhouette Cameo right now; I just treated myself to an early birthday present. I'm thinking I can use it to cut vinyl for my new sandblaster.
http://www.costco.com/Silhouette-CAMEO% ... 01&refine=

[Bert Weiss]

Costco has a pretty sweet bundled deal on the new Silhouette Cameo right now; I just treated myself to an early birthday present. I'm thinking I can use it to cut vinyl for my new sandblaster.
http://www.costco.com/Silhouette-CAMEO% ... 01&refine=

Nice rig. I bet you can get it to cut fiber paper or thinfire.

[Valerie Adams]

Costco has a pretty sweet bundled deal on the new Silhouette Cameo right now; I just treated myself to an early birthday present. I'm thinking I can use it to cut vinyl for my new sandblaster.
http://www.costco.com/Silhouette-CAMEO% ... 01&refine=

Nice rig. I bet you can get it to cut fiber paper or thinfire.

That's what folks on FB are saying, Bert. That's why I bought it, in addition to thinking about my new (unused since March) sandblaster.

[jim burchett]

Thanks for the link Valerie..thinking of getting ne of these

[Peter Angel]

There is a cameo Silhouette version 2 coming out later this year. It allows you to cut larger projects.

Id say the price of cameo silhouette version 1 will drop considerably once version 2 is out.

Pete