Saturday, March 10, 2012

OUCH!

OK, my morning didn't go well ..... I opened up the kiln and instead of seeing a nicely rounded piece of glass that I can slump over my bowl mold, I find this, this .. MESS!
Not only did the piece explode, but it melted over the edge and onto the kiln floor. I really could of cried.
Instead I carefully removed the glass, vacuumed the kiln. Since the glass did melt after the explosion, I'm pretty sure I have no damage to the kiln coils (well except the floor of the kiln is rougher in spots now... where I had to detach the glass.. urrrrrrrr)

I'm thinking tonight I'm going to run the kiln empty, to make sure it's ok.

So why did this happen???

I'm not sure.. sometimes even if glass is the same COE it's not completely compatible.

Maybe despite my best efforts, some 96 got mixed in with some 90 (which I've done once before, but not with kind of result!)

I used alot of glue on this run, it's possible I used too much ( though I've used alot in the past as well but all the books caution you to use as little as you can)

I glued the glass on Thursday night, it's possible it wasn't completely dry, which is a huge no no.
It seemed dry, but if it was still wet in the trapped layers, that would sort of explain it exploding apparently from the middle.

I'm leaning toward the too much glue/ it was still wet theory, so I'm going to be extra careful about using the glue.. I'll try to use as little as possible, and if I use more than a dot or too, I'm going to let it dry a couple of days to make sure it's completely dry.

1 comment:

Sarah Sequins said...

Kat, that's so sad about your glass piece! I really hope your kiln is OK.

I admire the way you immediately started problem solving. That's the best way to get through any kind of craftastrophe.