Glass Notes - tack fuse

I had some tack fusing to do to stick some dots onto a background. I have only done this a few times and I decided not to go with the hotter temp at the last minute because you can't fix something that s melted too much and I just chickened out. I had notes on it but not enough experience.
The pieces are stuck but I wanted them to melt a bit more onto the background. I am trying to make some little Christmas buttons for the Glass Applique shop and dotty pendants to match my shirt fabrics.

These were done on:
ramp 1 - 200 rate, 600 temp, 30 mins hold
ramp 2 - 350 rate, 760 temp, 5 mins hold
ramp 3 - full rate, 500 temp, 15 mins hold
ramp 4 - 350 rate, 370 temp, 0 hold

I am concerned that 780 C will be a bit too hot but I don't know if 770 C will be hot enough. I have worked out from researching that the glass softens a lot between 760 and 780 and melts at 804. Does it melt at 800 too? So much experimenting left to do.

From my notebook:
Based on Bullseye tech notes.
A rate of 222 is conservative initial heating rate.
Need to heat to 540 C or 600 C and hold to make sure all the glass is over 454 C. Up to 454 C the glass can undergo thermal shock.

Ramp 1 -  200 rate, 600 temp, 30 min hold (bubble squeeze and temp equalising stage)
Ramp 2 - 350 rate, 760 or 780 or 800 temp, 5 or 10 min holds (forming stage)

The second ramp needs to be fairly rapid to take the glass through the crystal forming stage which starts at about  730 C but not so fast as to form bubbles.

After forming you need a rapid cool to prevent crystals forming.

Ramp 3 -  Full rate, 500, 15 mins hold (equalising temp)

The soak or hold time for ramp 3 depends on the size and thickness of the pieces. Pendants I will soak for 15 mins, a 2 layer coaster for 30 mins and a 3 layer coaster for 45 mins.

Larger pieces  like coasters need two more cooling steps. Slower rate of 220 down to 427 C  and hold for 10 mins (ramp 4) then a bit faster rate of 350 down to 370 C and 0 hold (ramp 5).

For pendants and buttons only one final cool.

Ramp 4 - 350 rate, 370 temp, 0 hold

Cheers,
Val

Product Update - a golden sun and a golden hopping kangaroo

It never ceases to amaze me how much detail can be achieved when cutting the glass. The latest additions to the shop are the golden sun with many curved points and the golden hopping kangaroo. Both these items are badge pins suitable as lapel brooches or summer scarf pins. They can also be used as features on various items like bags and purses.

We have priced these with only a small profit margin so they are quite affordable to give as gifts and buying two means free postage in Australia and half price postage overseas. They come presented in a black velvet gift box with a hinged lid.


Cheers,
Val

Glass notes - making little squares

I spent quite a while making the squares I needed for the block I had chosen from my design book. I needed some distraction so I found a couple of cute animals to make.

The first is a cat face. I will paint the face on with black glass paint. The second is a bird. I will put little block dots on the eyes with glass paint. I have tried something similar with a dog face. With just one background layer of glass they are quite thin but will probably make good buttons or brooches to put in the Glass Applique shop. I plan to try to put some dangly legs on the bird. Will have to see how that goes. I will fire these two on a soft fuse. Maybe 760 for 5 mins. I am still deciding. I may go a bit hotter but I don't want them to shrink in too much.

The blocks I made are made up of 16 little squares. Since 3cm square is a good size I cut off a 3cm x 1.5 cm piece first,

then I cut that in half,

then I cut each little square into 4 smaller squares.

I am still struggling with colours. I have always had to work on getting my quilt colours right. It is just the same with the glass but even harder because they can change when they are fired.

This is what I settled on. I still have to wipe each piece and glue them to a background layer.

These two I will do on a full fuse 804 for 5 mins. I usually do 10 mins soak but I don't want the corners to round too much.

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Cheers,
Val

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Product Update - Little Letters and a Pineapple

I have made a pair of little letter earrings, a pin brooch and a pendant or charm.  The pale colour is close to the real look. It is called almond.

My partner is so good at cutting out the silhouettes. Every time he makes one I just want to have it. His latest is the pineapple. What a beauty!

Follow the blog to see new and matching items. The post title will start with 'Product Update'

Cheers,
Val

I love making things that match

I needed to do another trial with my almost full fuse. I made a cute wallet that needed a button and zipper pull so I tried to match up the colours in the fabric using the glass that I had. Even though the striker pink seems to match the red colour in the wallet I had a couple of other buttons with that pink and it didn't quite match. The only colours that came close were the yellow and orange. I so want to buy some more colours.

I am making up sample pieces for each colour.

I do love the way the yellow and orange look when fused. They are both opalescent and I put them on plain clear.

I clean each piece and lay it on a cardboard tray.
The glue the pieces to the base with Hotline warm glass adhesive.
I let it dry overnight.

I also had the urge to make a pendant and earrings to go with my new singlet top so I used my favourite blue and the striker pink, both transparent. I put them on a white base.

I will finish them off and wear them to the Brisbane craft and quilt show next week.

The firing schedule I used was one I used before but I think maybe it is not quite hot enough. I am trying to get as square a finish as possible for my quilt block items. Maybe I will just have to embrace the soft edge look. 780 and hold for 10 mins was not enough to make the layers meld together at the edges so it spoils the line of the pendant on the clear backing. The one on the white backing seemed fine.

Summary

• Bullseye yellow O 0220 and orange O 0025 look great together
• Bulleye blue T 1116 and striker pink T 1215 need yellow or green to set them off.
• 780 hold for 10 mins fuses three layers with white base
• 780 10 min hold doesn't fuse layers so well with plain clear base

Notes on soft fuse

The left hand items were all done on a soft fuse program that slowly ramped up to 780 and held for 10 mins.

I like the way the background square has squarer corners than the one I did on full fuse. The elements on the top right piece were soft fused at 768 for 5 mins. They are a bit too rounded so I am going to try 760 for 5 mins. Somewhere between 750 and 768 there must be a point where the glass softens. I will find it.

The blue and yellow block and the red pinwheel were formed on a full fuse. The blue and white block and the green pinwheel look pretty much the same done on the high soft fuse. The whites look different because they are different whites. The whiter one we can't get any more from our Canberra supplier.

 

The dog is done at 768 for 5 mins. So were the sheep elements and the letter with the stamp. I want all the elements to be a bit less rounded so similar items go in at 760 for 5 mins next time.

The finished sheep has a background made of a curved layer of white on a square layer of clear and fully fused. The one on the left I put clear triangles in the top corners and used a piece of white that I just cut the corners off. The clear triangles look like ears :(

The blank envelope I did on 780 for 10 mins. It gives a nice finish to the two layers. I will add the elements ( writing and stamp) and form at 760 for 5 mins. The one all done at 768 is pretty good though. I will try the complete envelope at 760. It is better to only have one step maybe.

A comparison between 768 and 750 with the dragon fly and the piece next to it. I want something in between these two.

The Cotten reel on the left is two layers on full fuse first. The reel on the right is three layers full fused first. Not much difference but the two layer brown is a bit darker. The stringers were done at 768 for 5 mins.

My next experiment will be similar items on the 780 fuse or the 760 fuse using nice whole numbers for the ramp rate and hold temps. I can't see the point of ramping at a rate of 139. Why not make it an even 150 or at least 140. I think it is because things are converted from Fahrenheit . I am only new to using the kiln but I think that 139 and 150 are both slow ramp rates. The original soft fuse has all sorts of odd numbers. The cooling step is 111 to 427. I think I can play with this to make it all nice round numbers.

Val

 

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