Read more ... Basic Glass Information
Clean both sides of the glass by scrubbing with powdered cleanser (Comet,
Ajax, etc.) Rinse well and dry with paper towel. After cleaning, handle glass by
the edges only, or use paper towel. Otherwise, fingerprints may show after firing.Place glass over pattern. Any line design can be used as a pattern, even a
page from a kid’s coloring book or we have books of patterns available.Shake the dropper tip bottle containing the Outline Black or Outline White.
Screw the metal decorating tip over the plastic tip. Practice using the outliner
on paper or scrap glass. When comfortable, outline the entire pattern. If
necessary to stop before the outline is complete, cover the metal tip with a
small piece of dampened paper towel and place the cover over all. Add a signature if you wish using the outline color.When outline is complete, rinse the tip and clean out with a stiff brush then
affix it to a squeeze bottle containing water. A few squirts and it’s clean.Place a few drops of the Glass Medium out on a palette, depending on the amount of
color you will use, add the powder and mix with palette knife until you have the
thickness of cream. Add a drop or two of water to thin to whole milk
consistency. Mixed colors should be thin enough to flatten out when applied to
the glass. If the color is too thick and the brush marks do not smooth out, add
another drop of water. You want the colors to flatten out to a smooth
application. If colors tend to run when applied, add a bit more of the powder.
Mix only what you will use in a days time and discard any that is left.
A 4 oz bottle of Glass Medium will mix 8 of the 27 gm jars and an 8 oz bottle
of Glass Medium will mix a pint.Use soft round brushes, usually a number
2 or number 4. Load brush fully and flow the color inside your outline.
Allow color to "puddle" and push to outline using the point of
the brush. Do not brush the color on the design. Glass can be raised slightly
off the table to enable you to see if you are filling in the color evenly
and touching the outline.If you wish shading, simply flow on the first color,
then add second color while first is still wet and "squiggle"
or "pat" the two colors together. All colors can be mixed on the
palette for new shades.When design is complete, allow to dry. This usually
takes about an hour.Place painted side up on the sagger of your choice.
Glass should be the same diameter as the sagger or a bit smaller, but never
larger than the mold.In a ceramic kiln equipped with a kiln setter, fire
to cone 015 or 1525F. Leave peep holes closed during the firing. Vent lid
a quarter inch during the entire firing and cooling cycle. These colors
will actually mature at a cone 016 but in most kilns an 015 will give a
much better surface. The Pumpkin and the Tomato requires
a 015 firing
Electronic kilns usually offer two options for firing. You can program them
to fire to a specific cone at a medium speed or you can override this and
use the ramp feature. If you find programming for cone firing does
not work on your kiln, use the ramp mode. (Check your manual for complete
details on how to use this feature). This will allow you to program to a
certain temperature and "ramp" the rate up by so many degrees
per hour. We would suggest that when firing single layer glass, you use
400F increase per hour to maturity with no hold (soak) time at the end of
the firing cycle. We suggest the following schedule when fusing two or more
layers of float glass or when firing a fused piece for the second time.
This is a very slow schedule and will enable gasses to escape to prevent
bubbles, also it will prevent cracking in a second firing.
Firing segment #1 300F per hour hold at 500F for 10 minutes
#2 300F per hour hold at 900F for 10 minutes
#3 9999 per hour to 1480F
#4 Cool and hold at 900F for 5 minutes
#5 Cool at 250F per hour and hold again at 800F
for 5 minutes
#6 Off
The above is offered as a suggestion, a starting point, and you will need
to adjust for your kiln. Float glass will mature at 1450F in some kilns
and need as much as 1550F in other kilns.
Glass Colors have a wide firing range, 1400F to 1800F. The upper end of
this range is much hotter than glass can withstand, it will melt into a
puddle!
We fire in a ceramic kiln equipped with a kiln setter, using a small 015 cone.
Prop the lid of the kiln open 1/2 inch and turn all switches to low for 30
minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes, turn all switches to medium for another
45 minutes. At the end of this time, remove the prop and turn all switches to
high. When firing is finished, allow kiln to cool naturally until the ware is
cold.
*As you know firing temperature is governed by a combination of time and
temperature and all kilns are different. Always use witness cones (shelf cones)
to determine the actual temperature. Firing any material, especially glass, is
an art. Age of the kiln and placement in kiln will effect the results. Top shelf
is usually hotter than lower shelves.If you are new to firing glass, we suggest that you experiment with undecorated
glass and the sagger you intend to use before firing a decorated piece.
Do not remove glass until it is completely cool.
Metallic Colors
White Diamond, Gold Dust and Copper glow are new metallic colors. Mix, apply
and fire the same as other colors in the line. These colors do not shine and
they are opaque. Try mixing with any of the lead-free colors for a metallic
sparkle, usually 1 part metallic to 3 parts color.
Gold Outlines
Unique Liquid Bright Gold can be substituted for the Black or White outliners.
1. Fill the Gold Pen with a drop of liquid gold and complete pattern
outlines.
2. Clean pen with Lacquer Thinner.
3. Allow outlines to dry before filling in the colors.
4. Fire as usual.
