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Free Kilncarving Pattern for December

Dec 12
Posted by Jodi in Recycled Glass Art, Step-by-Step, Tools
Star Kiln carving Pattern

Kiln Carving Pattern for December

Here it is at long last, the first of the tutorials.  Thanks for waiting.  Really.  Thank you.

This star is approximately 6″ square, and can be used for a bunch of different things, you could bend it into a plate, drill holes for a hanging wire and put it in a window, cast it in a circle and put it on the Christmas Tree. If you want to slump it after kiln carving, use the suggested slumping schedule.

Wondering why my star is all yellow and funky?  I used low-E glass for this one.

So, here’s how it works: (more…)

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Kiln Carving Recycled Glass with Fiber Paper

Sep 21
Posted by Jodi in Recycled Glass Art, Technical, Tools

Another really versatile way to add texture and design to recycled glass artwork is to use fiber paper and kiln carving.  Kiln carving refers to “carving” in the glass that takes place in the kiln during a firing cycle.

Fiber paper is a refractory material, looks much like paper toweling of felt, and is made from ceramic fiber with an organic sugar binder.  This means it will smell funny when the binder burns off, I suggest venting the kiln to the outside if possible.

Fiber paper can be cut into shapes with scissors or with an X-acto knife, then placed under the glass and fused.  I like to put the fiber paper in the mold, fire the glass using a full fuse schedule, but with a top temperature of 1485 (top fire) or 1500 (side fire).  This gives you enough heat to full fuse, without slumping too far, and gives a nice finish on the edge.

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Engraving on Recycled Glass

Sep 05
Posted by Jodi in Recycled Glass Art, Technical

Sometimes it is fun to just gear up and doodle on glass with an engraving tool.  Typically, the engraving happens after the artwork is complete, so the lines are much more opaque and free form than the lines in the carved work featured here.   I like to use my flex-shaft with a tiny diamond ball tip, and the same water set up as the glass carving.

Engraving can be a little tricky, since it is free hand, and the artwork isn’t usually flat.  However, with a bit of practice, it is a nice way to expand your options.

'Woven' - Engraved Recycled Glass Vessel

'Woven' - Engraved Recycled Glass Vessel

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Low E Glass

Aug 22
Posted by Jodi in Technical

Low E (emissivity) Glass is something of an interesting animal.  I discovered by accident that it has some special properties.

Low E is the name for glass that is coated with thin metal films to reflect heat/light.  There are two different types of coating, the “sputtered” coat, which uses up to three coats of silver sprayed on glass.  This is called a “soft coat” and has to be sealed inside of a unit, typically filled with argon.  The other type of coating is a pyrolitic coating, which has multiple layers of tin oxide and silver baked on the glass, i.e. a “hard coating”. (more…)

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Recycled Glass Firing Schedules

Aug 16
Posted by Jodi in Technical, Uncategorized

Here are the super spiffy firing schedules that I use for fusing and slumping.  These work for both window and bottle (which have similar COE’s):

Full fuse (1/4″ window or 2 layers bottle glass)

300/hr to 500 hold 15 min

250/hr to 1100 hold 10 min

250/hr to 1550 hold 8 min

9999/hr to 1030 hold 20 min

50/hr to 940 h 0

100/hr to 750 hold o

cool to room temp

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Creating Texture – Carving

Aug 10
Posted by Jodi in Technical

In an earlier post we talked about using recycled textured glass in artwork.  There are also other ways to get a texture in your artwork.  Carving the raw glass with a variety of diamond bits is an effective way to get a variety of texture.

These pieces were all carved using raw 3/8″ stock (broken table tops) and then slumped very slowly to 1385 degrees F.  The slumping firing also fire polished the carvings for a more finished look.  The texture was dictated by the shape of the bits that I was using.

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Should have known that was tempered….

Aug 02
Posted by Jodi in Donations, Recycled Glass Art, Technical

Last year I was gifted with a big glass donation from Red Butte Garden.  As I was unloading all of the glass, one of the pieces cracked.  That may sound like bad news, but it was actually awesome.  That meant it wasn’t tempered.  1/4″ float glass is the workhorse of recycled glass art, so to have 400 lbs, already cut into nice sizes and ready to go is really a gift.

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Using Recycled Textured Glass

Jul 26
Posted by Jodi in Recycled Glass Art, Technical

Unsurprisingly, I get a lot of textured glass donated to the cause.  It is pretty special, so people are more inclined to hang onto it until they find a home for it.

The bad news is, it’s usually a pretty small piece so there isn’t a lot of room for error.

There are two things that you can do with textured glass, slump it and maintain the texture as a design element, or fuse it, knowing that the texture will disappear, but some other thing will happen as a result.

Using textured glass for slumping:

1.  Plan to grind/prep the edges before slumping, we won’t be hitting a high enough temperature to round the edges with heat. (more…)

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Varieties of Window Glass

Jul 21
Posted by Jodi in Compatability, Experiments, Recycled Glass Art, Technical

One of the things you learn very quickly when working with recycled materials is to never expect the same result twice.  This can be a great thing from an artistic standpoint, because you really learn to roll with it rather than get all wound up in it.

This became obvious as I was getting wildly differing results from different windows using the same techniques.

After spending a lot of time researching window glass, I discovered that the glass manufacturing technique has a huge impact on the final results.  Also, if you can ferret out what the method was, you can use these idiosyncrasies to your advantage. (more…)

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Coldworking with a Steel Wheel Polisher

Jul 19
Posted by Jodi in Artist stuff, Technical, Tools

Cold working is the tedious art of cleaning up your glass artwork for the final presentation.  There are a number of ways to do this, most of them involving machines, diamond bits, tools and pads.

The old-school method is using a water drip with various grits and abrasives to grind the surface of the glass smooth.

Pro’s:  Fairly inexpensive.  I picked up a 24″ wheel for a couple hundred dollars on Craigslist.  The grits are inexpensive as well.

Con’s:  It’s messy and really easy to break the edges of the work you are polishing on the wheel.

Here’s a picture of the wheel:

Steel Wheel Polisher (more…)

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