thomas815•2mo ago

I used to think a full 30-minute soak was mandatory for my color bar, but after my buddy in Tucson said he just does a quick 5-minute heat in the kiln, I tried it on a batch of rubino and got way less scum.

Has anyone else found a faster way to prep their color that actually works better?

4 comments

4 Comments

holly7092mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of when I switched to a quick torch melt for my frit and it totally stopped the weird bubbling.

grant1552mo ago

Yeah I started just giving my silver glass a quick flash in the glory hole for like 10 seconds before I use it. I mean idk why but it seems way more stable now, less reduction weirdness.

ryan_black2mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal? I've used silver glass for years and never did that extra step. It always seemed fine to me. Maybe you just had a bad batch or something. Sometimes people overthink this stuff and find a fix for a problem that wasn't even there.

morgan.jason4d ago

That part about "less reduction weirdness" rang a bell with me @grant155 but I think you might be onto something for the wrong reason. The issue isn't really about reduction so much as it is about thermal shock. Silver glass has a lot of different metals in it that expand and contract at different rates, so if you don't warm it up slowly you can get micro cracks that mess up the color later. A quick flash helps even things out temperature wise before you start working it. I've been doing a two step preheat on my silver frits for a year now and the color payoff is way more consistent.