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| Credit: Terry Gomien |
There are a variety of ways to make attachments for garden stakes. If you have a kiln, you can make a slot in the glass for the stake.
The procedure is to cut a short piece from the rod. Wrap it with thinfire or Papyros. Leave a fraction of fibre paper over the end of rod that is between the glass layers. This ensures there is a bit of separator between the end of the rod and the glass. Place the wrapped piece of rod between layers of glass and fire. When the firing is complete, pull the stub of rod from the glass. Clean the channel created well. When the slot is dry, apply adhesive to the cavity and insert the rod. Allow to cure.
Be careful about the diameter of the rod. The thicker it is, the more layers of glass are required to enable the glass to contain the stress. A 3mm/0.125” rod needs at least one 3mm/0.125” layer of glass each side to be strong. Thicker rods need more layers each side.
The thicker the rod, the deeper into the glass the slot needs to be. The slot for a 3mm/0.125” rod needs to be about 25mm/0.5” deep/long. Thicker rods require much longer/deeper channels.
It is possible to create square channels by placing fibre paper cut to be slightly larger than the diameter of the rod to be inserted. This is not as accurate as wrapping a stub of the rod, but has less risk of breaking the glass around the rod during firing.
Channels within the glass are much more secure than external attachments for garden stakes.
