wild grows again...

Difficult to believe that it has been so long since I posted to the Blog! So much is going on and okay, no excuses, I've just been busy! The Behemoth kiln has been working away. It just seems to odd to be able to put several hundred small pieces and have them all done by the morning. There is a slight design flaw in this kiln that since it is a "clam shell" design where the entire kiln tilts up exposing just the floor of the kiln (allowing the easy placement of pieces, not having to "climb in" the top), the pivot points keep coming out of alignment so closing it flush is becoming an issue. I'm still working on that! When it is in good form, it's a great kiln.

I have also been spending a lot of time at the large torch doing borosilicate marbles and spheres and absolutely loving it. Gotta love GTT torches -- I continue to be amazed by my Mirage!

Not that I need anything more to do, but I took a class at CBS Dichro in paperweight making with Don McKinney. This involves working in a regular Hot Shop, gathers of molten glass from crucibles, working with a Glory Hole furnace, glassblowing benches, etc., and creating incredible pieces that I didn't think possible. It was interesting that the techniques that are used in glassblowing are nearly identical to what I teach on a more micro scale in lampwork. I had already climbed much of the learning curve. I have to say, though, that working hotter and bigger, well, it was phenomenal and I wanted more!

After speaking with one of the other people in the class (who had taken the class several times before) I came to the conclusion that the natural progression of where glass art is taking me is right down this path. It dovetails so very closely to what I'm currently doing. The thing is, though, it takes more equipment, tools, and subsequently more glass objects to be made and sold to afford more.

The first piece of equipment to enter the studio was the Glory Hole furnace.

In a regular hot shop Glory Hole, like this one from the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, large art pieces are possible.

Obviously, my studio cannot support something as large as this, so I have a smaller studio version of the larger GH's.



This is the smaller version that I now have in my own studio. It runs very hot, and the opening is five inches, so that's the maximum diameter of pieces I can do. It may not sound like much, but that's actually a lot of glass. Besides, THIS fits in my studio, the big ones don't! The inner diameter is much larger, but the ring of fire blanket at the front keeps much of the heat recirculating inside the GH. It was designed by my paperweight instructor, Don McKinney, and is a workhorse!

Well, a Glory Hole furnace is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to doing work on regular blow pipes and punties. I have to be able to get larger gathers of glass, and that is where a crucible kiln comes into the picture. This is kind of a specialty furnace, and not many manufacturers make them. The story of how mine came to me is a blog entry in and of itself, but suffice it to say, I now have one from Evenheat Kiln company:

This one holds a 40 pound crucible of molten glass (I'm using Spectrum's System 96 nuggets). This is what allows me to do larger work, not only in pieces like paperweights, but for glassblowing as well.

As a crucible kiln, this one is a little over kill with features. The red controls on the right are very sophisticated, and not entirely necessary if the kiln is used only for crucibles. The good thing, however, is that this kiln gets much hotter than standard glass kilns (up to 2300 degrees). This means that, if necessary, it could be used as a ceramic kiln for firing. I like when equipment is flexible enough!

The Universe, as well, sees to it that opportunity is spread around. The great expansion of the electrical in my workshop for the Behemoth kiln called for 50 amp receptacles. This kiln is 30 amp (different plug and circuit). The electrician will be paying another visit! That's okay, really!

Something else that is new is the addition of a webcam inside my studio. I currently only have one camera focused on the borosilicate glass workbench where marbles are done. This allows me to do demonstrations, have friends in far away places watch me work, and just learning yet another skill that will make its need known someday!

The Wild Wares Glass Webcam is my website. Look for the Webcam link on the left side.

Let's see... next on the shopping list are tools (Jacks, blowpipes, punties, etc.), a glassblower's bench, a generous grant, and more patience!

I cannot express how amazing this medium is. I marvel how when I first set foot in the LA Adult School Stained Glass class at the local High School years ago, that it would grow to what I have today. I cannot be more grateful!

Back to the studio...!

The Behemoth Comes to Life

Besides catching up on some sleep this long weekend, it was high time I put the new large clamshell kiln through its paces. It fits a 23x23 kiln shelf, which for me is pretty big -- that's nearly 4 square feet (and 14 inches in height). The bright and shiny kiln was just waiting for me to get it programmed and press START.

Yesterday I spent about an hour cutting 1x3 strips of ripple dichroic glass with either clear or black backgrounds, for some cool pendants. These are simple and effective and fun to do. Besides, it would also give me an idea of how my kiln works from a mapping perspective (were there hot or colder spots throughout the shelf). I was grateful to learn that the kiln heats evenly. That learning didn't come without a little bit of trepidation!

I filled up the kiln shelf, got everything ready, closed the kiln down, and fired up my program which would slowly bring the glass up to 1450, then ease it back down from a full fuse. The clicking of relays was happening, the temperatures were going up and up! Just how they are supposed to! Yay! The kiln got to 920 about 4 in the afternoon and never seemed to get any higher. It was at 940 after 9:00 p.m., not nearly hot enough, and I shut the kiln down. It should not take over 9 hours to get up to temperature. I would deal with it in the morning...

All night I kept thinking -- is it just the lid elements that are working? If that's the case, it's not nearly enough to bring a kiln that size to fusing temperatures. What if it were broken? It's simply way too enormous to ship back for repair. Where does someone get on-site kiln repair? The thoughts kept swirling, but I had a plan for the morning.

At 8:30 this morning I found that the kiln was still at 220 degrees (while turned off) -- pretty good insulation! There was a PF on the controller display (which isn't discussed anywhere in the book). I re-programmed the kiln from a slow to a medium speed fuse, and pressed GO. The clicking began again like yesterday -- it's a good sign -- but would it get up there?

700, 800, 900, 1000 degrees and climbing. 1050, 1080, 1100! It was working! SCORE! It made it up to 1450 easily, the glass was fusing beautifully. This particular kiln has a quartz viewing hole in the side allowing me to peer inside with a flashlight to see the glass pieces -- very cool! Even with the flashlight off, the orange glow of the elements and firebrick were eerily seductive! It was at 1450 for about 10 minutes and the effect on the pieces was reached, so it was time for things to start coming down.

I vented the kiln down to a 1000 degrees, then closed it up again to finish the annealing cycle. You have to imagine, it's 1:30 in the afternoon -- a VERY warm summer afternoon in Los Angeles, hot radiant heat coming out of the Behemoth, the other tabletop kiln going for the torchworked marbles and spheres I was making... HOT HOT HOT!~ I am so going to enjoy this more when it cools off!

The kiln is now down below 200 and I opened the lid to look momentarily, and the dichroic treasures were waiting for me there. The best part is that the kiln didn't lose but about 10 degrees of heat for the moment I opened it. It came back up to 190 easily and by the morning, the pieces will be room temperature and ready to go!

I would normally use a coated mandrel to make a long bail for the pendants, but this time I'm going to epoxy on silver bails and go with it. From what I saw in the kiln, I have about 40-50 pieces that will be good to sell! I like this process a LOT!

Honestly, I still stand amazed at the incredible medium that is glass. It's truly the best!

DAP Chemistry...

I have been experimenting more with Double Amber Purple (DAP) from Northstar Glass. Though working with borosilicate glass (boro) for over a year now, getting used to the chemistry of boro is exciting and a challenge.

Over the last few years, soft glass (System 96 flat glass from Spectrum and Uroboros), had been my medium of choice in torchwork, and the relative delicacy of soft glass has always been in the forefront, especially when it comes to heat. Granted, some of the S96 glass has been wonderful in the torch, and for the life of me, can't seem to scorch or burn it, most requires a gentle hand when it comes to heat. Boro is just the opposite!

To be able to work a glass piece and not have to worry as much about shock is incredible! The best part, and the most challenging for me, is getting (and keeping) the glass hot enough. I loved the pictures of DAP (and when I used it at the Mazet Studios last year, loved it) but when I used it in the torch, the amber side was the only one that showed. It wasn't until I saw Brent Graber's video (Hi Brent!) that he talked about heating the hell out of the glass. The elements needed to align with heat, and to heat and heat and heat the glass, then heat it some more!

Wow -- he is so right! I will use DAP rod and frit, and get the glass white hot in the torch. Then while trying to keep it from falling into a molten glop, keep it heated. The purples are outstanding! I will flame strike some of the piece, as possible, but the purples just pop! In order to experiment (and to save on the pricey boro), I have been heating clear rod and rolling it in several layers of DAP frit (large) then heating it like I've described. The results are really fun, and I'm looking forward to doing some marble experimentation with this.

I had to laugh, as I stood at my torch the other night heating the hell out of the DAP, I imagined what my soft glass would look like (what shades of pukey grey they would turn) if I were to incinerate that glass like I was doing the boro! Too much fun!

Okay, yes, I'm now a complete and total boro whore -- BoHo -- and look every day for the %age off emails for my new boro faves (and especially the now beloved, Double Amber Purple!).