Glass and Gold and Gilding

I've signed up for a couple of mosaic classes in April and May. It reminded me I wanted to try my hand at making Byzantine-style tesserae, and then a friend's Facebook post kicked me into high gear. She had much better success than I did and shared some of her wisdom. My test piece:

Two pieces of clear fusible (Bullseye CoE 90 Tekta clear) with one layer of gold foil sandwiched

Rhode Kephalaina let me know in her sample chips, marked 1 and 2, thats the sheets of foil. So, chip '1' has four layers approximately, and '2' with 8. My samples above are 4" square, not 1", and had one layer. It's not exactly ugly! It's just not the beautiful gold glass expected. The nicer parts of mine are where the foil doubled on itself (see Lessons learned, below...) I know now to fix it, though, thanks to a conversation with Rhode.

Ive also fallen for verre églomisé. Predating Rome, pretty much, this art (gilding glass and painting the back black) was practiced through the Roman period into modernity. It gets its name from an art collector 200 years named Glomy. It turns out it's not super difficult!

Sorry it's sideways. I can't quite remember how the technique entered my awareness, either through researching mosaics or mirroring. A little gelatin, some gold leaf, and some glass. A fine needle to scratch it up, and black paint. I'm going to teach a class on it at Pennsic this summer, which is exciting to me. I've tried a few types of leaf, a few tools to transfer it to the size, and will be picking up a second (larger) gilder's tip this week. It's beautiful to look at and I'm excited to see how I can integrate it into stained glass and mosaic work.

Probably To Be Continued...

Lessons Learned:

• Transfer foil is a lot better to work with for verre églomisé.
• Tiny creases are almost unavoidable with loose leaf, but the gelatin size flattens them out as it dries. The end result isn't perfect but it is much better than what you start with.
• TURN OFF YOUR CEILING FAN. Many people remark that gilding can be done at your kitchen table, and they are quite right. But when you bought a book of loose gold leaf and have the fan on medium, you are going to make a kaleidoscope of tears and gold for a moment. 
• Making Roman Gold, as Rhode is trying, or Byzantine Tesserae as I am, costs a bit! The leaf is not terribly cheap, though you can find it reasonably. She speculates gold foil, not leaf, would work better but it runs $75/5 sheets. 
• Don't use imitation gold. I did this before a year or two ago, without entirely realizing. It was an aluminum-based product, I believe. It turned horrible colors and crinkled up under the glass. 
• I wondered at using silver to do this. I'm told it can work, but my experience with silver stain says it certainly cannot. Ken Leap's book shows an example of firing a piece of solid leaf, and it made a dark amber stain at just slightly higher temperatures than I use to fuse. Further, I've used ground silver leaf in a period formula at much lower temperatures, and it made a light lemon yellow. I'd think 'silver' would necessarily be platinum leaf, which I have not priced or looked at.

Estelle's vigil: Family Badge Platter

Estelle did not ask for this, but some time ago we discussed the idea of making a matched set of platters that, when joined, would form her family badged (used by her whole mundane household). I decided this was as good a time as any!

The plates feature blue bars on a clear (white) field, with green in the corners (skipping heraldry terminology for non-heralds). Because I use a base layer of clear, I didn't see the need to fill in the second layer with clear. This is the first time I've tried any fused project with clear. I expected that the blue might spread or contract a bit, but I thought it would be acceptable:

HUGE bubble. Right beneath the base layer, not between two. The edge was also very irregular. ALSO, the grey sharpie used to tag the glass didn't burn off as I had expected. So, scrapped it and started over.

This time, I added clear layers in the top. The results fused much more smoothly:

And the slumping went well. Initially the shape bothered me, I thought I was seeing the "dogboning" problem I've had in the past with this mold, and I had been correcting my slumping temperature down to try and adjust. After a couple of days I realized they are fine; the molds have a slight curve in a plane I didn't realize, and the shape is closer to the mold's shape than I thought.

The piece in the top of these pictures had some old kiln wash fuse to the glass. For the immediate purposes, this is fine, but I plan to remake it so it has the clarity of the second (bottom) tray.

Lessons Learned:

• Applied kiln wash apparently has a shelf-life!
• Better results with even layer coverage.

"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!

Paint chips

Paint chip samples, to go into the binder. Before firing they always look lifeless and like drawing pastels, in reflected light:

Pre-firing, in transmitted light. I sketched little phrases on them for contrast. The samples are intentionally not blended even:

This was a very beneficial test, in the end, because the transparent green enamel I thought I bought was opaque. That project got sidelined for a bit as I try to decide whether to try it with enamels, or flashed glass. I don't want a leadline where... ah, but that's another post for another day. Three new colors coming this week to test as well.

Memorial Disks

After several weeks of not being able to stand at my work benches (sprained ankle followed by gout attack), and with very few weeks until my last option to enter MK A&S for the year, it's time to put the hammer down and get serious, or I won't be entering this year at all.

It took a dozen tests to get everything settled, to get a method to create two armorial disks. The disks are bearing the arms of a departed friend, blazoned "Azure, a chevron argent, overall a Latin cross Or." One will go into a panel for A&S. One will be attached to the lid of the handmade box containing his ashes.

I ordered two square feet of flashed glass, blue-on-clear. I also had a small (7x7") scrap of blue I found on a fluke at a local shop that doesn't normally carry flashed. I placed that into my Morton circle cutter and popped out a perfect disk. For the second disk, I cut one of the new sheets up. Popped it into my circle cutter, and met with heartbreaking (and expensive) disaster as the disk mis-cut. A second square became two more half-circles. Then a third. I blew through $75 worth of glass in an hour. I decided to forgo the fancy circle cutter and do it slowly, by hand and grinder.

Not too bad. Then, on to the acid etching. Resists/masks have been a problem for me, after several tests. Duct tape (fuzzy edge), contact paper (very fuzzy edge), and a resist gel were tried and found problematic. Most of the "tape" solutions I was trying are actually suggested for sandblasting flashed glass, not acid-etching it. I tried them anyway, because I had no better ideas and I'm not yet equipped for sandblasting. The gel was especially tricky because after I smeared a coat on the glass, I needed a "resist resist" to keep clear my target pattern. I laid down duct tape first, and lifted it to try and leave behind what I needed, but the lines weren't clear enough for my taste.

I ended up going back to duct tape, figuring I'd rather have a roundel with slightly fuzzy edges than none at all. I wanted a wider roll, however, to avoid issues where two pieces of tape match. A trip to the hardware store turned up a 4" wide roll of Gorilla-brand tape... and this stuff is mighty. I put a strip of Gorilla tape mostly across where the design will be, and two extra strips above and beneath. I then covered the gaps with two more thin strips, trying to get as much coverage as possible. I put a copy of the roundel on top with white glue, attacked it with an X-Acto knife, and got something workable.

Then, began the cycles of acid etching cream. Five of them, I do believe, in all. Sitting on scrap mirror for protective purposes:

After two coats, I believe:

Three coats:

 

After four:

 

I was shocked but pleased with the result. I gave it a fifth coat to clear up the edges. The glass is a lot clearer than I expected, more so than with sandblasting. While washing it in the end the water filled in the pits and made it completely clear.

The Gorilla tape worked far, far better than I had hoped. It stood up to wirebrushing to remove dried coats of acid etch, and kept the fine points intact. Here is a shot on top of my ancient crown template, for visibility.

Now knowing how to get the silver stain to work, I applied my stain and fired it.

I am exceedingly pleased with the result!!! Now, to get it into a panel....

Painting Practice Pieces

I made a quick practice piece to check my firing schedules and the paints:

For some reason (other than being an SCA herald?) I like to use an Ancient Crown for my practice pieces. I mixed a small batch of Reusche 1059 tracing black, and a matting color of about 50/50 Reusche 1220 A gray green and 1110 bistre brown #7. I did the matte, waited, very roughly traced the ancient crown, waited. I removed the matte from about 2/3 of the crown and did a thin highlight around the entire border. Fired it, applied the silver stain, tried a new blender, and fired. This shot shows some of the matting coming off:

 I'm using Reusche 1384 silver stain, Yellow #3. I had a previously mixed batch. I took a small bit, diluted with lavendar oil, and diluted it too much. Then I kept putzing about with it, and it was too dry when I went to hit it with the blender. Eh, I thought, it's a test piece. Fired it again:

 I am not unhappy with it. The matting is too light, the lines irregular and poorly traced (but it was a test piece), and the silver stain uneven. The only actual problem I've noticed is metalling where my silver stain is thicker. It happened once before, as well:

 

I checked my firing schedule (I'm using schedules from Williams & Byrne), and I noticed that my current schedule only goes to 1040°. Metallizing, as I understand it, normally happens when you fire too hot. RP 1384/Silver Stain, Yellow #3 has a listed firing range of 1050-1080. I'm going to do two more tests this week, firing to 1020° (20° below my current schedule) and 1060° (20° above) to see what the effects are. Viewed directly on the stain is pretty, this may be something I end up having to live with, because I can't image 30 degrees below the listed range is going to make it better, and going higher should make it worse if this is actually metallizing.

(Update, 4/17/13)

I ended up with interesting results. The test piece fired to 1060°, just inside of the manufacturer's listed range, turned out horrifically bad. I went ahead and fired it on a chip with a blue enamel I have plans for, and this was my result:

Horrible metalizing, "yellow mother-of-pearl" as I expected from Williams & Byrne's books, their description of overfired silver stain. It looks horrible in both reflected and transmitted light.

The chip fired to 1020° was relatively the same as 1040°:

Looking straight through it, its functional, but there are some off spots and in reflected light you can see its still not right. Thirty degrees beneath the listed range, and it's still not right? I started to suspect I was firing for too long, then, because surely it couldn't be too hot...

Checked Elskus, seeing what he had to say on the matter. Silver stain, according to him, has a functional range of 950° to 1050°! I'm still on the high end, according to him. Ok, one more chip, at 1000° then.

This picture doesn't do it justice. Beautiful and quite even. I stared at the chip for several minutes, held it up to various lights, placed it on my lightbox. I put it by my computer and picked it up ever few minutes for an hour, staring. 1000° it is, then, and that temperature has been working great for me. As the masters wrote and write, experiment and experiment some more...

Running in Circles

A quick observation on cutting circles. After you cut the circle with the tool or method of your choice, and you put in your relief cuts.... tap between the relief cuts. Half the time when I start tapping on a relief cut, I get a piece bisected in two. That does make the rest of the run easier, heh...

Arrows pointing at the successful score, unlike its twin on the bench, bisected. Red dot where I started tapping. Fortunately this is a fusing test.

Same bowls, different

A friend requested some bowls in her household colors, black and gold. With only a week before Val Day I went looking on Delphi's website (they are nearby and ship fast) and found a 3mm black and a 2mm black w/ iridescent gold:

(Unfortunately I think it looks better in photos than reality)

Glass used (Product ID's provided by Delphi, may be proprietary):
B010130 Bullseye Stiff Black 90 COE
B010058 Bullseye Black Opal Gold Iridized Thin
B110038 Bullseye Tekta Clear 3mm - 90 COE

I'm not precisely sure why the gold-on-black is a millimeter thinner, something to investigate later (UPDATE: It's intended for jewelry making, and not general fusing). The blanks are in the kiln fusing at the moment:

I will say, they do look pretty! Unfortunately it ended in complete failure. The blanks looked very pretty, the gold really comes out after fusing, as shown below. I don't normally crash cool, and as such it can take a lot of hours for a blank to cool down. Because I wanted to slump this right away, once the blank was 250-300° or so, I took it out and put it under hot water, which I then slowly changed to cool water, bringing it to room temperature in about a minute. I've done this several times with success. This time, however, I think the plate was hotter than the temperature on the kiln let on; as soon as it hit the hot water a significant crack appeared, between the color and clear layers:

Regardless, I tried slumping it. The results were.... ugly. The bowl was misshapen, cracked, and uneven. It had over-slumped, as well, and almost pooled in the bottom of the mold:

I didn't know if this was some result of the cracking or not, so I tried the second blank I prepared. It was not quite as ugly, but still misshapen. Here they are with comparison to a well-formed Midrealm bowl:

 After staring at a bowl for a long time, I believe this is because of the 2mm gold glass. I suspect it got hotter faster, being thinner, and started to slump prematurely. I slumped another midrealm bowl afterwards just for comparison and it came out fine, with the mold in the exact same place, so I don't believe its a kiln issue. Of course, now I found Delphi has the same glass in 3mm, so there is only one way to find out...

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.