Keeping Glass Reduced
 

Hi have a question some of you I am sure have answers to!

I just pulled a batch of beads that had DH stringer work on it. When they went into the kiln they were beautiful and lustrous! When I pulled them out most of the reduced luster was gone! It was odd - some beads were half and half. This is not a common issue and usually they stay they way they were put in. It is possible the environment in the kiln was slightly oxidized and removed the luster? If this is the case how can I help the kiln environment stay slightly reduced? I remember hearing something once that a small piece of charcoal in the kiln helped this???

The other thing that MIGHT be part of the reason is I recently put a new mandrel rest in the kiln. I have however had it in there a few kiln cycles so I would think any residue on it might burn off but do you think this might have been a contributing factor?

Any thoughts or idea are greatly appreciated!

buy some activated charcoal. just a tiny bit, put it in a small dish in your kiln, like a metal frit tray, or small terracotta flower pot dish (the tiny tiny ones) You can get it in the fish section of walmart. Because you just need a little little bit, you can buy a $3 fish tank filter and take out the charcoal from that. you need only a tiny tiny bit. LIKE AT MOST half of what comes in a small fish filter. You can buy it in larger amounts, if you want for about 10 bucks, same section of the store*. Its also a great de-oderizer for the fridge and freezer. use like baking soda :) just a tablespoon will work, staple it between a coffee filter and throw it in the fridge/freezer.
If you add too much all your other beads will reduce.

OR try turning down your kiln a few degrees. If your beads were half and half, it may have been the side exposed to the coils/heatsourse/hotspot in your kiln, that was hotter, and there for burned off the reduction.

I have the same problem, turning it down fixed the problem a little but i had a few beads crack, so don't turn it down too low. Triton is the worse for me, it un-reduces like crazy !!

i havent' tried the charcoal yet.
Regis

If you turn down the kiln, lengthen the annealing time. That's what I do and my silver glass stays the same color and the beads don't crack.

Also make sure the beads are hot enough when they go into the kiln! The only time I ever had a bead crack was when it went in the kiln too cool.

Wow Great! Thanks so so much! Off to walmart!

Thanks for the tip!

Been there done that, charcoal did not work at all for me!!
Anneal at little lower temp and soak longer like Laurie said, my beads don't crack either!

you have to use activated charcoal, not just any charcoal.. maybe that was the issue??? humm...

Is the new mandrel rest metal? Could be the new rest is oxidizing a bit....

Try supporting your mandrels on some ceramic kiln furniture...

you can also try reducing your glass when it is a little bit warmer

Laurie how much lower and longer do you suggest? Thanks Becky

This is off subject, but can you cause reduction JUST by using the charcoal? I am on a Hothead and this sparked my curiosity.

Thanks!

apparently yes. I have heard of people getting an unwanted reduction on their beads in the kiln, and not knowing why. usually a kiln cleaning is in order here because of the accumulated build of of reduction materials. I have also heard that people using activated charcoal will forget, and have a whole slew of reduced beads that were not supposed to be. I have not had this happen, my kiln is pretty good to me, but I imagine that the reduction would not be all that great, just a slight reduction. It would be worth trying :) Let me know if you need some charcoal, ill mail you some. I have a big bottle for the fish tank. (its great in the fridge, it filters odors)

I honestly have thought about hooking up my HH just for the reduction factor! It was amazing!! I cannot get the same reduction I did on my HH. Its close, its just not the same.... However I do not think that with a HH you need to add any reduction, YOU GOT IT!! :lol: It is by far the best reduction I have ever gotten.

I garage and soak (1.5 hours) at 920 and this works for me, both to maintain reduction and to avoid overstriking my striking colors. The kiln will spike higher than that after the door is opened to put in a bead or move beads around, as it tries to regain steady state, so keep your reduced beads away from the heating element.

Encasing is another way to protect reduction, although the effect will be different. I rarely leave reduction exposed because it tends to tarnish over time. A silver cloth will restore some of the shine, but customers tend to flip when their shiny beads start getting dull.

Lower your kiln temperature and lengthen the annealing time need to be done methodically - test it out 10F at a time. I have written about it in my blog of annealing silver glass if you are interested.

http://envisionsf.blogspot.com/2009/...mperature.html

Hope this helps.

Thank you for the great info!