Attracked to the Flame - Part III

Speaking of getting burned... This is the kiln. When I bring the temperature up to around 1,000 degrees F. to anneal my glass work, the outside of the kiln gets hot to the touch as well - especially the metal parts! However, these warm surface areas outside of the kiln become a very useful tool. (The white top you see does not get as hot.)

In the first picture, you can see some glass rods and "frit", along with some stringers up on top of the kiln. The reason they are there is to warm them prior to use. If you warm your rods before taking them to the flame for melting, it is less likely that they will crack or break. Broken rods can shoot hot glass across a room and if it lands on something that can be burned, it will leave a permanent scar - not to mention if it hits your face! (Although, typically it will shoot away from you - so be aware of what is lying in front of your working space.)

I use stainless steel items to place my rods in so that they don't roll around while on the the top of the kiln. The tip of the rod that I will be melting in the flame is placed on the kiln, while the other end (handle), is placed off of the kiln as far as possible without it falling off. This keeps the part of the rod you will be holding cool enough to handle without burning yourself when you pick it up. It also keeps the paper tag from burning, which I like to keep so I know what colors I have used up and need to reorder.

Contained in the colorful dishes on the top of the kiln in the second photo are what I call recyclable waste glass - in other words, mistakes! Many beads and marbles do not work out to my high standards of perfection. If that happens, I remelt the glass and use it for something else - usually marbles for my grandsons (I have plenty). It is always good to preheat these larger pieces of glass before trying to reintroduce them to the flame since they can crack, split, explode, break into a million pieces and fall onto your work table below (or your lap!), and the list goes on. So I warm them ahead of time on top, and if I'm going to actually introduce large pieces into the flame, they're actually placed inside of the kiln for a while.

The tiny pieces of glass you see are called "frit". When pulling stringers (a subject for another day), they tend to spit off a tiny tip of the pull spot and leave it on the work space when you pick up the frit for sorting and storage. Depending on what the stringers were made for - some can be striped or swirled, or very colorful - these tiny tips can make for some very interesting color combinations (or "confetti") on top of an already formed bead as a last step. I like to use the inside of marble with a lot of clear in between so they seem to be floating inside.

I guess the bottom line here is to warm your raw materials as much as possible before carefully and slowly introducing them to the flame for melting. Things will go much smoother if you do.