"Dogboning"

I enjoy making fused items, too. I made two plates for Their Majesties lunch at Fall Crown last weekend. I had an issue with the first one, and turned to the great people at Fused Glass Fanatics on Facebook.

The "not quite right" but serviceable plate, in the mold.

I was informed this is called "dog boning" and is the result of firing either too quickly or to too hot a temperature. After giving my firing schedule I was told the pre-set schedule I've been using goes about 100°, maybe 150°, too hot. I'm very glad to know this, and to know there is a term for it!

Midrealm Populace Badge

Post-in-progress! Come back for more.

The "Midrealm takes care of its own" mini-event at Crown is in full-swing. I pledged two pieces of glass work, but wanted to goad my household into contributing as well. I told them if five of them contributed an item to the silent auction, donated to the cause, or gave an item for the bake sale, that I would also give a celtic knotwork piece I found. If 10... I would do the Midrealm Populace Badge.



I found a beautiful Welsh Dragon pattern at this website and realized it could be easily modified for Midrealm usage. It's a straightforward modern work, about 24x18. I hope to put it in an oak frame as well.

 At this point I realized three of the pieces were darker than the others in this photo, while discussing it on Facebook. I came to find out that I had grabbed a nearby sheet of red that was different, and recut them in the right glass.

The following pictures were taken as I fit the pieces into my soldering jig. The green appears almost black, the photos losing some of their beauty.

Finished pictures and silent auction results to be announced after this weekend!

[Edit 5/30/13: I ran out of solder! Ye GADS! I used the picture below to enter the panel into the auction, where it brought in a respectable sum for the cause.]

Next update will be final, with a shot of it cleaned up, patina'd, and framed.

[Edit 7/8/13] Below is a shot of the final panel, just before delivery. Not 100% happy with it, but it needed to get delivered.

Project Technical Notes: Crown Tourney Assignment

We have won a bid to host the Kingdom A&S competition and Crown Tourney in May. During a feast prep inventory we discovered we need some small bowls and plates. In an effort to jazz it up a little for the eight seats at Head Table, I volunteered to make eight bowls and eight plates featuring the Midrealm pale. These are going to be promptly washed and given back to HT to keep.

Materials:

6" Blank (Bowls):
3"x7" strip of white (x2)   (I'm using an unspecified white Bullseye fusible glass, 3mm)
1.5"x7" strip of red (x1)    (I'm using an unspecified red Bullseye fusible glass, 3mm)
7" square of clear (x1)       (I'm using Bullseye Tekta clear, 3mm, double rolled)

6.5" Blank (Plates):
2.75"x7" strip of white (x2)
2"x7" strip of red (x1)
7.25" square of clear (x1)

The red and white glasses are unspecified because I bought them from my favorite storefront, and the information was not listed or recorded (and the glass quickly cut up before the number on it was noted). The clear was purchased online from Delphi, making the details better known.

Original concept art (plate):

Making the bowls

Cut with a circle cutter so that the blank ideally has proportions of 2.25", 1.5", 2.25" so that the pale (red stripe) is not quite on even footing with the white field (in heraldic terms), although that is not required. This is a common presentation, even if not strictly correct.

My starting position:

 

I use duct tape to bind the three strips together tightly, flip them over, place them into my circle cutter, and if the glass gods are kind, I end up with a circle. Remove the three pieces from the duct tape. The cuts on the red strip are so subtle I pop them easily with my running pliers. The cuts on the white stripes are much more substantial; I make perpendicular relief cuts like I would would with a solid circle and tap them out with the back end of my glass cutter. This seems to be more reliable than the idea of slowly applying pressure on either end of the cut with running pliers.

I cut a clear base using normal circle-cutting techniques. Assemble:

I use the standard "small piece" fusing schedule my kiln came preprogrammed with:

300°F/hour to 1000°F, hold 0 minutes

FULL/hour to 1350°F, hold 0 minutes

500°F/hour to 1425°F, hold 10 minutes

FULL/hour to 950°F, hold 30 minutes

The fused "blank":

I slump it using a mold from Slumpy's, using the standard "small piece" slumping schedule pre-programmed in my kiln:

300°F/hour to 1000°F, hold 0 minutes
500­°F/hour to 1280°F, hold 20 minutes
FULL/hour to 950°F, hold 30 minutes

The finished bowl:

Repeat seven more times....

Making Plates

The process is much the same as above, but the sizes of the strips are different. After cutting with the circle cutter the desired end proportions are 2.5" white, 2" red, 2.5" white (for a 7" pattern). I discovered that I mis-remembered my past measurement and my plate mold is actually 6.5" in diameter. A quick check during a holding cycle showed that the extra .25" rim didn't droop like I feared, but slumped successfully. I'm not sure if I will stick to these numbers or go ahead and make a 6.5" blank next time, but I suspect the latter, though the end result was fine.

Same fusing and slumping schedules used as for the bowls.

The completed set:

Not all it's cracked up to be...

An interesting result from yesterday's firing; while cutting the circle for the blank, one white strip bisected accidentally. I didn't worry about it, since I was about to fuse it into a solid piece anyway. Even doing so, there are telltale signs:

In this picture you can see little dimples where the crack was, both at the inside edge (where the crack met the red stripe in a 3-way "joint") and at the outside edge, where it looks like clear glass filled the gap instead of white.

Holding the piece itself you can see the crack is lighter in color, although the surface is smooth. It looks like the clear base fills in the gap instead of the white, and while there doesn't appear to be any weakness, it is visible.

The fourth blank had a similar issue, a small but not insignificant chunk popped off a white strip. The "heal" is noticeable, as before:

(Update, a few days later):

Another variation of this turned up when I made the plate, though you can see it in the last photo as well. Fusing is no replacement for good cutting and fitting!

There was a slight error or shelf present and the red stripe was not in as solid contact with one white piece as it was the other. As a result, on close inspection, you can see how the clear again made up the difference.

Manufacturer's Lie

Very pleased with today's fusing:

The first blank I fired, and immediately slumped into a bowl, picture here for sake of a complete record:

I didn't think to measure the finished blank to see how much the size changed. With the second one I did measure it, and found out it actually shrank slightly!

My understanding from a Bullseye Technote (I think) is that warm glass wants to be 6mm thick, and it should contract or expand to try and reach that level. The glass base I'm using is 3mm, and the colored glasses are 3mm. I expected no change.

M. Sigulf suggested that the rolling process actually makes the sheets a little thinner than the official spec, and as a result it contracted a bit. Fortunately, with 6" disks and a 13" kiln shelf, I can actually get two blanks fused at once and save some firings. Unfortunately the plate mold we are using is 7"; It will be back to single firings for that, unless I want to make 6" plates instead.