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Iridized Glass? What is it?

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 7:34 am
by deborahbur
I would appreciate any information, photos, etc. on iridized glass. Where to buy, etc. How it fuses, slumps, etc.

Thanks
Deborah :D

Re: Iridized Glass? What is it?

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 9:15 am
by Ron Coleman
deborahbur wrote:I would appreciate any information, photos, etc. on iridized glass. Where to buy, etc. How it fuses, slumps, etc.

Thanks
Deborah :D
Bullseye, Spectrum and Uroboros all sell irid glass. Depending on who supplies the glass, the method of manufacture may very. I know Bullseye uses stanous chloride nad acid sprayed on the glass while it's about 1500 f.

Plenty in the old archives about irid. Lots of fun when you have a sandblaster.

One of my pieces using Byllseye Black Rainbow Irid glass with blasted patterns. About 14 inches in diameter.

Ron


Image

Irid glass

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 11:25 am
by DonMcClennen
Hi Ron........Your irid surface looks quite smooth(no cracks).
I have blasted a design on "96" black irid, then fired it to polish blasted area. Mine always seem to have cracks in final irid exposed surface.
Fuse at 1450 after blasting, Slump at 1260.
Don

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:41 pm
by Dani
Like many fusers, I systematically use the irrid on the bottoms of all bowls to avoid kilnwash sticking.... Ron, have you standblasted a design onto the bottom of a bowl and then fused.... the design still stays there, I would presume? Might be a subtle little trick to try..... 8)

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:47 pm
by Jackie Beckman
Dani wrote:Like many fusers, I systematically use the irrid on the bottoms of all bowls to avoid kilnwash sticking.... Ron, have you standblasted a design onto the bottom of a bowl and then fused.... the design still stays there, I would presume? Might be a subtle little trick to try..... 8)
Avery does this all the time - and yes, the design stays. It's a nice surprise when you look at the bottom of one of her pieces - as if the top side wasn't pretty enough! :)

Re: Irid glass

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 1:05 pm
by Ron Coleman
Don McClennen wrote:Hi Ron........Your irid surface looks quite smooth(no cracks).
I have blasted a design on "96" black irid, then fired it to polish blasted area. Mine always seem to have cracks in final irid exposed surface.
Fuse at 1450 after blasting, Slump at 1260.
Don
Hi Don

This piece was fused irid side down on 110J paper to get texture and then blasted while flat and then slumped. The surface is textured but the irid coating isn't cracked at all. I've not used Specturm irid so can't speak much about it and how it fires.

If the irid is on the outside of the bowl when it slumps there is a tendency to for the coating to craze because the glass stretches but the irid coating doesn't.

Ron

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 1:12 pm
by Ron Coleman
Dani wrote:Like many fusers, I systematically use the irrid on the bottoms of all bowls to avoid kilnwash sticking.... Ron, have you standblasted a design onto the bottom of a bowl and then fused.... the design still stays there, I would presume? Might be a subtle little trick to try..... 8)
I've just done a little of the back irid design on my pieces, but like Jackie mentioned, Avery uses the irid back to real advantage. The designs stay and look good.

The only time I've had irid change on the back of a piece is while using a drop out ring. The coating doesn't move but the glass does and you end up with islands of irid or what look like stretch marks. Like below.
Image

Ron