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Setting Up the Glass
The setup for our project is includes a lot of clear glass and some strategically placed transparent colors. One of the best parts about kiln-pressed glass is that transparent colors that often seem too dark to be useful in typical fused glass projects dilute to wonderful hues in kiln pressed glass.
When stacking your pieces of glass, make sure that there are three or more equal high points. This ensures that the top kiln shelf is level when placed on the glass.
Although not required, the base piece of glass makes it easy to build your piece and move to the kiln. It will also help you to achieve the smoothest possible surface after firing. In this example, the base is about 6 inches across.
Place your setup on a freshly primed (kiln washed) shelf as shown:
Note the fiber paper strips that have been placed near the edge of the shelf. The height of the fiber paper (once fired) will determine the thickness of your final piece.
We are now ready for the top shelf and weights.
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thank you
Hi Paul,
this is incredibly good and I don't thing anybody else has done this before. You would think that everybody has two clay shelves around and I'm sure everyone but me. I would have never thought that the day would come were I need two
. Thank you so much for sharing, have a wonderful Christmas.
petra
petra kaiser - www.kaiserlee.com - NEW Blog: http://glassforum.blogspot.com
Beautiful effect
Great idea and as always, great direction too Paul. Very cool idea...thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Scandia
Excited to try this project!
This looks like a nice way to use up some of my scrap! I have some Bullseye Transparents that are pretty dark and hard to incorporate into other pieces, so I'm going to try this!
I started with a 9" round clear base. I added striker red, purple, yellow and green. I was really careful to have clear between each color so I don't get unwanted reactions.
I didnt have as much kiln furniture to weigh it down-13" shelf 1/2 in thick. 4 small bricks, 4 dams, some extra posts. I think it should work well enough. I used 2 layers of 1/8 fiber...I was going to use only 1 layer but I chickened out--I was afraid it would be too thin, and would spread out more than I wanted. I assumed that the weight of the kiln furniture would squish the 2 layers down to the layer of a single sheet of standard glass anyway.
I used the same firing schedule as recommended...I guess I won't know the final results until tomorrow! Crossing my fingers! I took pictures of the set-up and will take pics of the finished blank, then the final slumped piece.
One more thing ...
Be sure to place the lower shelf DIRECTLY on the kiln floor. I normally put 1/2" spacers under the kiln shelf, and I left them there for this project. Unfortunately, after adding the glass, the top kiln shelf, and the weights, and using the recommended firing schedule, the lower shelf cracked. Fortunately, the floor of the kiln was kilnwashed, so there was no damage.
kiln shelf on floor
Putting a kiln shelf directly on the floor is not appropriate for glass fusing - you need to have the air circulating under the shelf to ensure even heating and cooling of your glass - it won't anneal properly if the shelf is on the floor. Use additional posts or other supports to accomodate the additional weight.
Piranga
Fused Glass, Wood, Beads, PMC, Ceramics
Usable and Wearable Art
Art for the Sake of Art
In certain cases you can
In certain cases you can place it directly on the kiln floor. This glass will be so thin that it should not harm it. If you use Kaiser Lee Board you can also place the shelf on the kiln floor. I think they want it on the floor since they are putting so much weight on it with all the kilnfurniture needed for the press.
It is a fun project.
petra
petra kaiser - www.kaiserlee.com