Q & A Mondays are answers to reader questions submitted via email or social media. All personal information has been removed for privacy reasons and messages have been edited for clarity. You may submit your own questions through the About/Contact page.
Q: Hi, I haven’t fired my kiln for years. I have some Bombay Sapphire bottles and came across you post. Would you share your fusing schedule with me please? Keen to be creative again Thank you in advance
A: Hi there, yay to renewed creativity! 😀
You can find my firing schedules here:
https://glasswithapast.com/knowledgebase_category/float-and-bottle-glass-firing-schedules/
as well as 150+ other tutorials. Let me know if I can help with anything else.
Q: I was just wondering to myself whether you could etch a colored glass bottle to change its hue or perhaps give it some streaks, then fuse it with un- etched glass from the same bottle. Just wondering about how to give projects a little more interest.
A: Etching won’t change the COE, so you can experiment away. Did you see the tutorial about adding mica to the etched parts of glass? The mica sticks to the etched parts really well, you can do some cool things.
Q: Hi, What method do you use to clean the kiln wash off the bottom bottle molds? I usually clean my kiln shelf with a box cutter blade laying flat, but I’m not sure how to do it with a mold that has a design.
A: I use a denture cleaning brush from the dollar store. Make sure you wear a mask. You just want a brush that is firm enough to get into the details and soft enough to not wreck them.
Q: Hi Jodi, Just curious what gauge wire do you use for the bendable animals legs & feet do you use??
A: It depends on the animal, but most of them are either 18 ga nichrome or the bigger ones are 16 ga nichrome.
Q: Hi Jodi, I never used float glass but I’m starting to see the advantages; I just can’t seem to get a consistent answer about tin side vs. air side–can you fuse two tin sides together? With most fusible glasses, you can’t fuse surfaces with metal treatments, like iridized or dichroic together, but now I am hearing that you can fuse the two tin sides together. Is that true? Thanks so much!
A: Hi there, yes, you can fuse tin sides together, the tin coating thickness does vary with different pieces of glass, but I’ve never run into the irid side issue with it.