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Hi folks. I'm new to fusing, and a student in a school without a glass program. I'm working on a project for which fusing seems the best method, and have time in a small annealer coming up. I previously did a successful tack fuse of float glass and copper plate, but neglected to keep a copy of my firing schedule.

For this upcoming round, I am using float glass, and copper still, but would like a better melting of the parts. 2 layers of glass with copper wire, plate, or coil between.

Could you help me by recommending a firing schedule? The basic one seems to be something like...

600 F p/hr up to 1100 F
250 F p/hr up to 1300 F
from 1300 F immediately up to 1575
then cool to 1100 as fast as possible
200 F p/hr down to 750
500 F p/hr down to cool/remove

Does that sound about right? What might I expect to see from this?

Thanks! T.
(examples of the previous studies...

The speed of your schedule is okay for small float tiles, but I have tweaked it a bit. Bear in mind, there are a million variations, and my changes are meant to trap as little air as possible. If you're going to put braided or coiled wire between float, you WILL trap air. It can be minimized by putting small shards of compatible float around the edge, between the layers of float. This allows the center of ther float to slump, and expel air out as it fuses. You can make uniform pe-fired pieces for this, if desired.

500 F p/hr up to 1175 F
Hold 60 minutes.
100FF p/hr up to 1575 F
then cool to 1050 as fast as possible
Hold 60 minutes
150 F p/hr down to 750
OFF

turi wrote:Hi folks. I'm new to fusing, and a student in a school without a glass program. I'm working on a project for which fusing seems the best method, and have time in a small annealer coming up. I previously did a successful tack fuse of float glass and copper plate, but neglected to keep a copy of my firing schedule.

For this upcoming round, I am using float glass, and copper still, but would like a better melting of the parts. 2 layers of glass with copper wire, plate, or coil between.

Could you help me by recommending a firing schedule? The basic one seems to be something like...

600 F p/hr up to 1100 F
250 F p/hr up to 1300 F
from 1300 F immediately up to 1575
then cool to 1100 as fast as possible
200 F p/hr down to 750
500 F p/hr down to cool/remove

Does that sound about right? What might I expect to see from this?

Thanks! T.
(examples of the previous studies...

Hi Brock,

Thank you for the reply - and the tweaked schedule! I appreciate the help.

The piece I am firing is larger than the small tiles in my first studies. It will be about 8.5 inches by 7 inches, but still two layers with copper between. Does the larger size suggest a longer firing time?

Best, Turi

No, you're okay at that size, float is pretty forgiving. If you don't have access to any edging machinery, try and makes your cuts on the float as straight as you can. Avoid flares, if possible. Brock

Thank you, Brock. ^_^

To the list,

I'm working on building custom electronic compenents - kind of a hand-made computer/circuit - that reveal the beauty of the materials, not only the function.

Can any of you more experienced artists think of anyone exploring similar ideas - in glass or in other media? Or anyone doing interesting materials work with electricity and glass?

Best, Turi

You're way out of my field now. There's people who make plasma balls, blown vessels with some kind of electrical discharge occuring in the interior. They can be pulsed(?) to touch, or music, or . . .

This result is stunning, Turi. I have applied and fired mica's on different surfaces to achieve depth and with hopes of achieving a similar effect, but the impact of the range of colors and texture you achieved in this is really yummy. I love the crunchiness.



This image is probably too small to really see...but it's one piece from a panel series of four. There are similar textures achieved, but not nearly the range of value and texture you have gotten with the copper. I used copper for the line elements...and mica's for the coloration. Would love to achieve (harness) the colors and value range with all that texture you have done. Cool.

Hi Cynthia,
Thanks! I was very happy with the results with the copper. I'm doing another run today - and hope that the results will be as good.

I'm using copper plate, rather than leaf, since I need it to conduct electricity. I think that the broad surface under the glass allowed the colors to develop as they did. The copper wire and narrower copper strips tended to turn quite dark. Also this was run for a tack fuse rather than a full fuse. The copper plate was relatively thick - I got it as scrap from a workshop that makes restaurant and fancy apartment kitchens. I don't know how it is for stress - but everything is still together.
I like the effects in your work. I'll have to check mica out. :)
Best, T.