An Interesting Challenge

[Audrey]

  Becki

[Ian]

Becki
That crack kept me going for a week. Anyhow to report on the progress thus far. Everything is now going into the kiln for the final fuse before being slumped. This is where it gets interesting as there are stainless steel loops and copper inclusions not to mention bubble powder in between the 2 layers of glass. The chances of bubbles in this project are quite large. I'll keep it low and slow with a bubble squeeze. Here are the before fuse pictures

Ian

[Ian]

And the rest The clear blank is for the 35cm salad bowl and the last one is the full kiln load minus the ones I have to still load for Beth
I forgot to mention that the red stripe is a stringer and that I have to get a contour fuse with the chunky frit. So we will see!!

[Becki]

Wow, that's going to be a long slow firing, isn't it?  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, my friend, and make a few offerings to the kiln god!  Love the salad bowl design.  The addition of the stringer and frit catches the eye and gives it interest.

[nansea121]

Looking forward to seeing how these turn out. Looking good Ian! I really love the designs on the decals as well.
Where did you find those or are the designs taken from photos? There's a place in the states where a person can have their own decals made up that way from photos, or they can submit their own design and they'd make it up for them via email.

[Ian]

Nancy
I print my own decals on decal paper that I buy from Delphi glass using a lazer printer. Gives one endless possibilities.
Becki,
This is going to be something of a fuse! The capping sheet is supported off of the bottom layer by the 6 wire loops around the edges. Added to that are the copper wire inclusions in the centre . So what is going to happen in a perfect world is that I have to adjust the firing schedule to
A: Take into account that some of the glass is half clear and some is half dark which results in the dark half heating up faster then the clear section
B: The stainless steel wire is going to expand faster then the glass but slower then the copper wire and is also flatter than the stainless and
C Try and get the glass that is suspended by the wire to first drop in the middle and then work the drop out towards the edges so as not to trap air under the capping piece. BUT not too fast so as to trap a small amount of air to catch the bubble powder at the right time so as to have the bubbles the client wants.
Then there is the dichrioc decal paper topped with the lazer decal paper that has to burn out before the glass starts dropping so that the gases can escape

Oh My what have I let myself in for
Ian

[nansea121]

I did a search and they can be done with injet printers (to make water slides) as well.
Thanks Ian:) It sure looks like a cool way to transfer photos and line drawings.

[Ian]

Hi Nancy
Inkjet printers use a watersoluble dye in the ink and it burns away at fusing temperatures. The reason that only a lazer printer will work is that there is iron oxide in the formula that they use which turns to a sepia colour when fused in a kiln. Also only certain types of lazer printers will work according to how much iron oxide is used in their particular formula. There is a Chinese gentleman that sells printers and cartridges that use a ceramic based cartridge to give you color printed decals but I am almost sure that they are also lazer printers and very very expensive.
Iaan

[Becki]

Nancy
I print my own decals on decal paper that I buy from Delphi glass using a lazer printer. Gives one endless possibilities.
Becki,
This is going to be something of a fuse! The capping sheet is supported off of the bottom layer by the 6 wire loops around the edges. Added to that are the copper wire inclusions in the centre . So what is going to happen in a perfect world is that I have to adjust the firing schedule to
A: Take into account that some of the glass is half clear and some is half dark which results in the dark half heating up faster then the clear section
B: The stainless steel wire is going to expand faster then the glass but slower then the copper wire and is also flatter than the stainless and
C Try and get the glass that is suspended by the wire to first drop in the middle and then work the drop out towards the edges so as not to trap air under the capping piece. BUT not too fast so as to trap a small amount of air to catch the bubble powder at the right time so as to have the bubbles the client wants.
Then there is the dichrioc decal paper topped with the lazer decal paper that has to burn out before the glass starts dropping so that the gases can escape

Oh My what have I let myself in for
Ian

All those inclusions and trying to make bubbles while avoiding them??   You are a glutton, aren't you? I'd be nervous as hell!  Wait, I think I am!!  Let me know when it's over, won't you?

[nansea121]

Hi Nancy
Inkjet printers use a watersoluble dye in the ink and it burns away at fusing temperatures. The reason that only a lazer printer will work is that there is iron oxide in the formula that they use which turns to a sepia colour when fused in a kiln. Also only certain types of lazer printers will work according to how much iron oxide is used in their particular formula. There is a Chinese gentleman that sells printers and cartridges that use a ceramic based cartridge to give you color printed decals but I am almost sure that they are also lazer printers and very very expensive.
Iaan

Mmmm... I just found this artical about that very thing.
Thanks Ian:) That would explain the water slides I have that can be fused. They used a laser printer(:

http://www.glass-fusing-made-easy.com/fusing-photo-paper.html

[Ian]

Nancy
you are right. That is exactly the process that I use. The person you send your pictures to to make water slide decals that turn out a sepis color is doing the same thing and getting paid very well for doing it. I believe that in the States you can buy a black only lazer printer quite cheaply and the paper cost about 1.60 dollars and you can print up to 16 or so small decals on one sheet so if you do the math you will see that it is quite affordable
I use a HP M1120 MFP printer and I know that the toner for that particular model works.
Ian

[Ian]

Becki
I will be turning the kiln on tomorrow morning at about 8:00 am so I will know by monday afternoon if my calculations worked out or not
Ian

[Ian]

Okay so to add to the general air of suspense we are now in the middle of a thunderstorm.  
Ian

[Becki]

 

[Kev]

LOL....this firing is wracked with variables...should be really cool to see how you make out with it...keeping my fingers crossed  for you. I had my kiln going last night and the controller stopped working when I went out to check it. I thought the fuse was blown and was ready to get a new one today, but when I also went to turn on the water hose outside, the pump didn't kick in....then it occurred to me that the kiln and pump were in the same outlet, and the pump kicked in last night for irrigation. ...turns out the circuit breaker tripped off. The fuse was fine after all and all is well.

[Anne]

LOL....this firing is wracked with variables...should be really cool to see how you make out with it...keeping my fingers crossed  for you. I had my kiln going last night and the controller stopped working when I went out to check it. I thought the fuse was blown and was ready to get a new one today, but when I also went to turn on the water hose outside, the pump didn't kick in....then it occurred to me that the kiln and pump were in the same outlet, and the pump kicked in last night for irrigation. ...turns out the circuit breaker tripped off. The fuse was fine after all and all is well.

Yeah, but what did it do to what was in the kiln?

[Kev]

Luckily it was only a few pendants I was fusing with decals and it had already reach peak temp. I took them out this morning and they were fine.

[Becki]

LOL....this firing is wracked with variables...should be really cool to see how you make out with it...keeping my fingers crossed  for you. I had my kiln going last night and the controller stopped working when I went out to check it. I thought the fuse was blown and was ready to get a new one today, but when I also went to turn on the water hose outside, the pump didn't kick in....then it occurred to me that the kiln and pump were in the same outlet, and the pump kicked in last night for irrigation. ...turns out the circuit breaker tripped off. The fuse was fine after all and all is well.

Oops! 

[Ian]

Hi Guys
Okay that was a rough few hours. Kev that is quite a coincidence. I have an air compressor on the same line as the kiln and today I was using my lpg gas and compressed air bunsen burner to finish up some jobs for this damn day job and the compressor switched on. I have never moved so fast in all my life to go and switch it off.
It's not such a train smash if the kiln is stopped on the first 2 segments of my cycle as the glass has then only reached the beginning of the strain point and being a brick kiln it would take long enough to cool down without doing any damage to the glass. Then I would just be able to start up the programme again from scratch. The same applies if it happens on the down cycle if the programme has reached the end of the annealing cycle.
Where it could get dicey is  when it is between the strain point on the up cycle and the start point of the annealing cycle and something happens to switch the electricity off.
But I really did'nt want anything happening during this firing because of the all the variables as I am using an entirely new schedule made up of what I know already and basically instinct used while punching in the programme
Holding thumbs here
Ian

[Ian]

It's been a long day waiting for the kiln top cool down. From 8am to 4 am to get to 65 c from 250c. But it was worth it in the end. The one that I was most interested in was the lazer decal fused directly onto the dichro paper to see if I could get a mother of pearl effect for the Abalone shell. It worked like a charm but is very difficult to photograph. The african lady I think had to much copper in it which allowed the glass to crawl slightly and gave her stretch marks The clear bowl blank came out with perfect edges. And no massive bubbles whew!!
Ian