[TheForge] something I hope better than what was the theft of metal public

[Saint Phlip]

Frostig, post your questions to Carolyn on EK Metalsmiths list. She's a
jeweler and lampworker- she may be able to help.

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 3:47 PM, jerry Frost <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:

> Yes Bruce I'm melting it not slumping. While it doesn't flow quite like
> water it's amazingly fluid. Copper won't work as a dam unless I want to
> fuse it to the copper but that has a whole different set of issues, mainly
> COE. Steel and most alloys of glass have very close COEs. And yes, I've
> been giving it hours of temper time.
>
> Polished stainless steel is the norm for shaping and handling molten glass
> and my first clamp is a flattened spoon with the handle bent around for a
> clamp. Unfortunately being so much thinner and larger surface area than the
> crosses it heats faster and hotter so the glass sweats out between the two
> like solder. I had limited success with soap stone welder's "chalk" but
> being a form of asbestos it's a great insulator making for an uneven melt.
> The glass didn't actually bond to the soap stone though so it's still a
> possible backer. One of my most successful attempts was carving a piece of
> soap stone to fit in the negative space. Unfortunately the glass only fused
> rather than melting.
>
> I should mention what kinds of glass I'm using eh? Having poor results
> trying to melt marbles for a number of reasons I decided to try lamp glass.
> I found close, it seems there are so few lamp workers up here they all
> order from outside and no art glass studios carry rod. I bought red
> noodles, long flat strips. They're used for art glass like Chilhuly
> studios, not really lamp work glass but closer than marbles for sure. It's
> colors withstand heat much better than marble's colors.
>
> The noodle melted nicely but made for an uneven fill. The negative space
> in a "Fredrich's" or "spread" is star shaped with points that diminish to
> very small spaces. My next move was to buy red frit. Frit conforms to the
> negative space nicely but holy macarel it really reduces in volume when the
> pile degasses. I was warned by the fellow at the art glass studio it would
> really reduce in volume so I piled it nearly to its angle of repose. The
> finished piece is about 1/3 full.
>
> The backing I've had the best luck with so far is the kiln paper, ceramic
> paper similar to Kaowool. I got a good seal by putting a LITTLE bit of
> Kaowool under the negative space so the paper would conform to the cross
> more closely. Being spread crosses the bends and twists used to open them
> leaves surface texture and flattening them reduces their charm.
>
> There are kiln washes and investment casing media molten glass won't stick
> to. The downside to both besides cost is neither would survive my forge if
> I actually wanted to do some forging and I'm not going to buy a glass kiln.
>
> Thanks for the questions and suggestions Bruce.
>
> I'm so new to messing with molten glass I have to develop a vocabulary to
> even ask a good question. This ALMOST makes me wish I lived close enough to
> Anchorage to take a few art glass classes. Talking to Drew at the glass
> studio was very enjoyable. Glass work and metal work appear to share a lot
> of vocabulary and processes if by different usage and terminology.
>
> Jer
>
>



-- 
Saint Phlip

Only President Obama could double the stock market, cut the deficit by
2/3, bring
gas down under $3, get bin Laden, end 2 wars, bring unemployment down under
6%,  while fighting a government that is trying to destroy him, and still
be told he's failing as President.


Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

.I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary notices I
have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow