Homemade Glass Powder

Summary of a question: Frit made in an electric coffee grinder and cleaned with magnet still produced black specks in the finished piece. What’s happening?

 

 Most coffee grinders use stainless steel blades. Most culinary stainless is not magnetic. So, you are left with flecks of steel in your powder that the magnet cannot remove.

 My experience with homemade powder has not been positive. This has led me to buy powders. But I still use home-made frit. You can wash and sieve out the powder and steel particles at the same time into a bucket or basin. This will leave you with clean frit from fine to as coarse as you want.

 Do not put the residue down the drains. It will block your drains after a time. Instead, you can let the glass settle to the bottom of the bucket and pour off the clear water. Let the remaining water evaporate, and wrap up the sediment for waste collection. Or if you have a garden, you can empty the water and sediment onto the ground. It makes for good drainage over time.

 

The contamination in home-made glass powders make it best to buy powders and make your own frit.

  

Flows

 

Credit: Marcy Berman

I have not had much success [with] the Patty Gray mould despite using the recommended firing schedule. I always have holes or bubbles and the edges are not smooth.

The schedule for Oceanside was:

• 111°C/200°F per hour to 537°C1000°F for 15 minutes
• 167°C/300°F per hour to 662°C/1225°F for 30 minutes
• 195°C/350°F per hour to 798°C/1470°F for 20 minutes
• 9999 to 510°C/950°F for 120 minutes
• 55°C/100°F per hour to 371°C/700°F off

 Your picture shows a bottom view of the piece - made of cullet pieces - as fired. Two large bubbles show to have been created from the bottom rising through the glass to the top.

 Although a long bubble squeeze will not prevent this, it will help to reduce the number of bubbles, and especially large ones. Because of the number of pieces and the thickness of the glass put into the mould, a longer bubble squeeze would benefit this piece.

 The bubble squeeze can be as you have done this – at a single temperature – with a soak. In this case, I would have used 60 to 90 minutes as the soak.

 The other bubble squeeze method is to start the squeeze about 55C/100F below the top of the bubble squeeze. Most people use a soak of about 30 minutes there. They then proceed at a rate of between 30C/55F and 55C/100F to the top of the bubble squeeze and soak there for another 30 minutes. The rates and soak times will vary according to the thickness or complexity of the piece.

 I dispense with the soak at the beginning of the bubble squeeze on the grounds that at 610/1130F so little movement will be created that it is a waste of time. I would prefer to have a slower ramp rate to the top temperature and a longer soak there. I know the glass will be moving at those temperatures. Many people find the soak at the beginning of the bubble squeeze successful.

 The schedule to the top of the fuse is faster than the rest of the schedule. When I want a piece to flow, and especially, to fill gaps, I slow the rate. In this case a rate of between 100C/180F and 167C/300F would be slow enough to allow the glass to flow to fill gaps.

 I want to ensure the glass has enough time when it is flowing most freely at the top temperature to level out. This requires scheduling a longer soak at the top and observing how well the glass is levelling out. If more time is required you can add it on the “run,” and advance to the next segment when the surface is as wanted. Read up in your kiln manual how to do both these things.

 Yes, the rate is one which will enable devitrification to form on flat glass. The soak at top temperature is even more likely to promote it. However, as the glass is flowing, less devitrification has an opportunity to form. The crystallisation – which is what devitrification is - of the glass takes time to form. The movement of the glass surface is sufficient to reduce the formation of those crystals. It is of course likely there will be some devitrification, but not as much as the slow rates and long soaks would lead you to think. 

 But for these flows there always is the possibility of devitrification. You have to plan a method of removing it. Unless the surface is very flat, grinding the top is not a fast way to remove it. Sandblasting is a quick way to remove devitrification. Another way is to sift a thin layer of clear glass powder over the surface. This is an increasingly popular way to deal with devitrification for those without access to sandblasting facilities. When fired again, the powder melts and forms a new shining surface. The piece will need to be fired fire again whether sandblasted or covered in glass powder.

The summary for flows:

• Slow down to top temperature.
• Give sufficient time there to get the flow needed.
• Observe the progress as you near the top temperature.
• Extend the soak or advance to the next segment when the surface is smooth.
• Anneal soak for the calculated thickness.
• Use a three-stage cool – as outlined in the Bullseye chart for annealing thick slabs - to ensure no temporary contraction stresses are created.
• Accept there will be devitrification.

Wet shelves

 "Was the shelf completely dry? I’ve had pieces practically crumble from a wet mold or shelf."

There is a lot of speculation about wet shelves causing problems. And not just this one. The reported problems centre around large bubbles and glass sticking to the shelf. Generally, the dampness is the result of applying kiln wash. Although the mould or shelf can be damp for other reasons too.

Kiln Wash

I assure you that kiln wash is dry long before the glass sticks together. It is dry before the glass forms a seal to the kiln shelf or mould. The moisture has sufficient time and space to move from under the glass during moderate first ramp rates.

There is a precaution about wet shelves and moulds, though. You need to be careful in placing glass on top of wet kiln wash. It is possible to scrape kiln wash off areas of the shelf when placing the glass. So, the glass must be placed directly onto the supporting surface without any subsequent movement.

Wet Moulds and Shelves

However, if it is the mould or shelf which is wet, rather than just the dampness from kiln wash, different considerations apply.

If a mould is wet, it will need days of air - and then careful kiln - drying before using. It is best to avoid getting shelves and moulds wet. Washing or soaking of these items is not recommended.

The difficulties relate to the nature of wet porous structures. Not only is there free water in the structure of the mould/shelf, but there is also chemical water. Free water is what makes things feel or look wet. Chemically bound water is molecules of water lightly bonded to molecules of the structure. An item can appear to be dry and still contain this chemically bound water.

Both need careful removal. Air drying for up to a week is good for removing the free water. If you do not want to wait that long, you can kiln dry. But this needs to be done carefully. A slow ramp to just under the boiling temperature of water is required to allow the water to evaporate without creating steam. This rate should be less than 100˚C/180˚F per hour. The length of the soak needs to be related to the size of the piece and how wet it is. But one hour is a minimum.

Then another slow ramp needs to follow to remove the chemically bound water. This temperature is around 250˚C/480˚F. Hold that temperature until no fogging of a mirror or glass held above the open port occurs. This will ensure the mould is completely dry and free of the chemically bound water too.

Conclusion

The best advice is to avoid wetting shelves or moulds. It takes a lot of care and time to get them completely dry. The dampness created by applying kiln wash is easy and quick to remove. It can be done during a firing with a moderately slow rise in temperature to 250˚C/480˚F or beyond.