Mothers Day Custom Project

Casting glass is usually a longer process than a slump or fuse. Thickness means longer annealing, slowler ramps etc... Creating molds takes time, things have to be cast, and let dry. Sometimes they work, sometimes they need to be recast. Time we did not have. We started 5 days before Mothers Day. We would cast 3 molds (Negative, Positive, Negative), fire a thick blob of glass and tack fuse in 5 days.

Day 1 - Tuesday Afternoon

Ricky's face is pasted with release, and we use the same material for mending broken bones to create the first negative. It is a thin layer of mesh with plaster. With staws in his nose, after 30 minutes we remove the mold. We are done for today, and leave the mold to harden overnight. I don't think I have enough clear 90 COE frit, I place an order.

Day 2 - Wednesday

I need to make a really solid positive now, and it needs to be correct. I don't have time to recast the mask, and the mask will be destroyed during this step.

I decide to use diamondcrete, it is solid and has an accelerant so it will harden overnight. I coat the mask with release, and fill. Several hours later I remove the mask destroying it in the process.

Relief, the first positive cast is good. I set it aside so it can harden overnight. I got a 10 pound sampler of Best Mold Mix today, need to play with it when I have time.

Day 3 - Thursday

Sunday is looking really close and I am not even remotely near doing anything with glass yet. I need to use something with a low thermal density for the final negative. I don't have time for super long firings, so I grab the discardable mold mix.

After letting it dry till late at night, I pull the diamondcrete mask out. The mold looks horrible. Holes, bubbles, chunks...I can't use this. Time is running out.

I grab the best mold mix, "Trial By Fire" time. I disregard the instructions which cover such things as 24 hours to dry & cure, firing once to about 1500 degrees to set etc... Ok, Best Mold Mix guys... you're product gets the ultimate torture test.

I decide to make a 1/2 inch layer of mold mix on the diamondcrete mask. It will dry faster, and it will have a lower thermal density. I mix it up like a thick goo (completely incorrectly per the directions). I paste it on the head, and leave it overnight. If this doesn't work, I am out of time.

Day 4 - Friday.

I have roughly 48 hours to go, I need to fire this thing twice, and I don't know if my mold worked. Should be a fun day. The best mold mix is seriously solid stuff, I wind up using a hammer to get it off of the face. It has a crack due to this, but other than that the mold looks usable.

I throw the mold into the kiln and fire it to 500 degrees (totally ignoring the directions), and shelf prime it at 500 degrees (not per instructions). I am doing everything with the Best Mold mix that you shouldn't do.

Right around now I realize that my shipment of 90 COE clear frit is not going to show up. I have about 2 pounds of it, not enough. I decide to grab some Tekta sheets and chop them up. I don't want to crush them, I don't want dust clouds in the glass.

The mold is cooled, and I load it with the 1/2" squares of Tekta. Firing time, Friday night. I can ramp up fast (airflow through the glass chunks), but I am worried about the new mold mix. No time to go slow, so I go 400/hr up. I have it sit at 1000 for 10 minutes, then all out to 1500. I'll sit it there for almost an hour, then drop it like a rock to 950. Annealing is about 2.5 hours, and I can't avoid that. Cool off will be about 150/hr tops as it will be a thick hunk of glass. Roughly 14 hours of firing time, and I don't know if the mold will crack.

I prop the mold and let it run, Saturday we'll see if we have a puddle of glass, or the mold will hold up.

Day 5 - Saturday

I have to wait till it cools, that's the toughest part. I had put a stainless steel lid over the mold for heat control, and to contain any disaster if the mold perishes. Bad part of that is I can't see what's in there. There is no visible seepage of glass so the mold must have held.

Around noon I finally pop it out. It worked, the Best Mold mix took the beating, and stayed in one piece. I pull the glass out and clean it up. I have 21 hours to go till this needs to be delivered, and one firing left.

After cleanup, I check the color with the background blue, should be ok.

Back to the kiln. We can't ramp up fast (thick glass) but we're only going to 1250 for a tack and smooth. We'll ramp up at 200/hr, sit at 1000 for 15 minutes, 300/hr to 1250. We'll sit at 1250 for about 30 minutes to tack and smooth the top surface. After that we'll drop it to 950, anneal for 2.5 hours and cool off at 200/hr.

13 hours of firing roughly, and 20 hours to go. We're done for today, it is all up to the kiln, but we're home free basically.

Delivery Day, Sunday, 10 am.

I came in early today, I can't wait in case it didn't work for any reason. I pull it out and it's done, it worked.

It's a bit tough to photograph due to the clear, oh well. Once it is backlit and mounted it will be pretty nice.