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My turn for a Pot Melt
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 6:32 am
by Diane
I finally got brave and tried my own pot melt. I used some scrap Spectrum I had laying around, greens, blues, black baroque, clear/clearwhite baroque and a bit of yellow. It was very cool watching it drip down. All I could think of was getting a soft serve ice cream
Now I have a few questions...how can I get rid of the bubble holes. They all popped but now I have little craters. Should I just fill them with clear frit and fire again? Will the second firing smooth out the curlyQ in the middle?
Any advise, comments or suggestions are MORE then welcome.
Thanks for turning me on to this VERY cool process
Diane
Nice job!
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 8:44 am
by Steve Immerman
Very nice melt!
If you can drill out the bubbles, or sandblast, then refire with a small piece of clear frit at the site of the bubbles, you may be able to minimize their appearance.
I found that the back side of the melt can have a very interesting and different appearance also.
http://www.clearwaterglass.com/aperture_pour_2.htm
http://www.clearwaterglass.com/whirlpool.htm
Steve
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 9:00 am
by Randy W
Fixing the bubbles is easy. The smaller ones I fill with clear powder and the larger ones I fill with a small chip of clear glass and some clear powder. Of course you might be daring and try colored powders. Leave the powder mounded up a little, it tends to shrink a little.
I didn't lose any detail in the pattern when re-firing, if anything, it seemed to make the pattern a "little" stronger and more defined. Nothing drastic, but just a little.
Pot melts are a great way to use up scrap glass.
Thanks for sharing, it's a nice looking piece.
Randy
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 10:56 am
by charlie holden
What I do is crash the kiln down to about 1350-1400 when the pot drip is complete. This gets the surface to glaze over enough that the bubbles either collapse or burst. Then I run the kiln back up to 1500 or so, wait for the surface of the glass to smooth out, then proceed to annealing. I think this is more efficient since the interior of the glass is still close to 1500 when the air in the kiln is down to 1400, and you don't have to heat all that glass back up from room temp. Of course if you're going to put a rim on like Steve has, you're going to heat it all up again anyway.
Sometimes I'll have the problem of one more drip dropping down when I heat back up and end up with a little blob on the surface that I either have to live with or fire out later.
If you're going to full fuse the piece in order to get frit to smooth over in the bubble holes, I don't really see the point of putting frit in them in the first place. A full fuse will smooth out popped bubbles with a soak of about 15 minutes.
Re: Nice job!
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 1:12 pm
by Amy on Salt Spring
Steve that bowl is so cool! I love the back of the melt much more than the front--great idea. This is the first piece I've seen incorporating a melt like this. Awesome!
-Amy
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 3:06 pm
by Steve Immerman
Thanks.
Steve
Beautiful bowl
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 4:19 pm
by The Hobbyist
Steve, That is a truly beautiful bowl. What a fantastic finish to a pot melt.
I love it................Jim
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 5:53 pm
by Jason Boebinger
all I can say is "wow" .It always pays to experiment
Re: Nice job!
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2003 6:47 pm
by Claudia Whitten
Steve,
You have out done yourself with "Whirlpool". What a stunning bowl. I think it's the best new thing I have seen in a while. I am sure you are very proud of it. The bottom design was a good choice,it is just outstanding. I keep trying to focus on narrowing my techniqes to find my own style,trying not to do it all but this look is very tempting. You did an excellent job on making it your own. Your signature design in the rim. WELL DONE!!....Claudia
Posted: Thu May 01, 2003 10:34 am
by dinah ihle
Steve, that is a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL piece. Thanks for posting it.