Well you think you have an idea about how to do something because you've done it a million times and had a successful result....but no, "pride comes before a fall" as my mother-in-law would advise.
These pieces that are already sold and I have received the monies for (back in 2009) - so I am aiming to make them as efficiently as possible.
Pulling the "blue deco" pieces out of my kiln yesterday I was astonished to find that they were all scummy and opaque on the surface.
I was aiming for shiny and clean. I was aiming for a set of "blue deco" that were ready for slumping and then posting to the USA - but no, I now have to sandblast the surface of all these pieces before I can slump them and send them off.
These pieces were perfectly clean and dry before they went into the kiln. I have gone to the font of all glass knowledge, the Warm Glass Bulletin Board and searched under "devitrification" and realise that the detergent I have been using has left the surface of the glass with just enough residue to create crystalline structure upon fusing that can't be eradicated easily.
I think its simply wonderful, that people in the glass industry share their knowledge and expertise so that we can learn and relearn whatever it is we are needing at that time.
Thanks to everyone on the Bulletin Board, good work and thanks again. If you are interested its simply: www.warmglass.com/ .
