Casting Hearts

DreaminColoursArt

How can veiling be reduced in heart casting moulds?

These ways of avoiding or reducing the evidence of the cullet pieces laid into a casting mould rely on analogies with other methods of glass flow.

A reservoir such as a small ceramic flower pot can be set above the mould to allow the melted glass to flow through the hole into the mould below. This removes all possibility of the edges of the glass pieces showing.  It does however, introduce the possibility of more tiny bubbles into the cast heart.  This uses the same principle as a pot melt, but into a mould. The result will not have clear definition between colours as the placement of cullet does. It may sometimes show the path of the flow into the mould.

Another possibility is to fill the mould with frit. This would eliminate the evidence of the edges of the cullet, as the small particles would present no coherent edges in the final piece. It does however risk a multiplicity of tiny bubbles throughout the piece and sometimes a greying appearance.

If you have access to a hot glass studio, you could do a pour into the mould which would completely eliminate bubbles and veiling.