Blog

I totally learned something this week. We always think that we know compatible glass by its COE. I really thought that when Bullseye started saying Bullseye compatible they were really trying to brand themselves and set themselves apart. Now Oceanside is doing the same. I read a very interesting article that was written by Daniel W. Schwoerer from Bullseye Glass. It is Bullseye Technotes #3. If you would like to read the entire article, click here: https://www.bullseyeglass.com/images/stories/bullseye/PDF/TechNotes/technotes_03.pdf To summarize, the article says that you really must take more than coe into consideration when deciding if glass is compatible. Mr. Schwoerer says you should also consider viscosity. COE would be how much the glass expands when being heated and how much it contracts when cooling. The viscosity would be the thickness. A high viscosity glass when melting would flow slower. The article does say how to test. I guess if you were doing a large piece and mixing glass (manufacturers) it may be important to do it. So the question is can you put 90 dichroic with Bullseye glass? It is small generally, probably not a lot of expansion and contraction and not a lot of viscosity flow. It is safe to put Wissmach with Youghiogheny or Uroboros or Spectrum. Goodness knows we have and we have done it successfully. However, now and then we hear “my piece cracked for no reason”. Well maybe now we know the reason?

This week I was waiting on customer who wants to do mosaic something that will be outside. When she asked for the correct products, I could not help but think of this situation that was written about in the Fall and Winter 2017 issues Stained Glass magazine. (Info comes from there and an article in Alabama Living.) All I could think of was “make sure it is weather proof!" This amazing piece of art is located at the Huntsville, Alabama First Baptist Church. It took seven years to complete (1966 to 1973) and contained approximately 1.4 millions pieces of Italian tile – none larger than a thumbnail. This mosaic is giant! There are seven bays and each bay is 18’x45’. It is about 5,600 sq ft of mosaic. It made the news because it was falling apart! A team went in to asses the issues. They determined the problems were: Glass tiles were used instead of smalti, (Smalti are ½-1/3 the size of tiles but twice as thick. Smalti do have a beveled edge) the mounting of the tiles to a netting with epoxy was not the best method, the materials used were of dubious quality, the cements used to install the mosaic were not the best choice, and the methods used to apply the cement and mosaic sections were suspect and probably incorrect. Within a year of the installation glass started to fall! 50 years later the team was trying to determine the best way to fix it. The decision was made to remove the entire mosaic and replace it with new. The design was to be reproduced and this time fabricated and installed correctly! The color palette was to remain the same, but it was allow to increased the depth of color and make some minor corrections to the design. This project is still going on. At the time of the Winter issue of Stained Glass bay two was complete and Bay 3 was underway, schedule to be complete by Easter.

If you have a difficult time adapting to change---LOOK OUT! There will be so many changes in the upcoming months, it will make your head spin! Oceanside made several announcements in July, 2018. We have been passing this news directly on to you through our eblast which go out a few times during the week. If you are not signed up for these and would like to be, click here: https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/newsletters.html. One announcement made was what would be retired July 1, 2018. For that list, click here. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3066318/art%20glass/96%20Transition/July%201st%202018%20Retired%20Products.pdf?t=1533154518844. To help you understand this list a bit and not to get too upset. A-100G does not mean clear granite is going away. It means clear granite in large sizes is going away. That is what the" A" in the front means. Architectural. The "I" in front of the next list means Iridized! Yep—that is a long list of iridized. Gone! Spectrum was outsourcing coated glass and Oceanside is having logistical problems doing that because it means crossing borders and dealing with NAFTA. Not easy. So they are hoping that in 2019 they will buy the equipment and start production again. The spoa number are the very beautiful opal arts. These: Nautica, Godiva, Sour Apple The next batch of numbers are Spirit glass numbers. Again just beautiful Art Glass. Rio, Valhalla, Sedona, Seattle. (and they even had cool names!!)

For a few years now, Stained Glass Express has been offering 33 coe glass. We are still learning and still adding product. One of the growing stock is our 33 coe tubes and rods. We stock Simax tubes and rods made by Schott. This is a high- quality borosilicate glass. The main ingredients are silica and boron. Boro has a high heat resistance and a low thermal expansion. (thus the low coe number). Simax works best in high heat and is commonly used in lab equipment, industrial equipment and cookware. However, in our art world it is a favorite because it creates smoot, transparent and strong beautiful pieces. For Simax to work at it’s full potential it must be annealed properly. Annealing is the process of eliminating internal thermal stress. This stress comes from one area of the glass getting hotter than a neighboring area and will later develop cracks. Usually it is annealed at 1050 F for about one hour and then cooled slowly. If you cool too quickly it will crack. Of course, this can vary depending on the thickness of the glass and other variables. You can use Simax glass with other 33 coe glass like Glass Alchemy, Golden Gate, imported, Momkas, Northstar, Tautman and others. We have not put simax on our website but if you talk to us and allow us to cut it to fit a box (or are willing to pay for oversized we will ship it. Our colored rods are on the site. https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/flameworking_glassblowing/33-coe/ In the art world the top item made is tobacco pipes, but also ornaments, pendants and other wonderful works of art! Sign up for one of our torch room classes and learn this art! https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/skins/common/images/TorchRoomClassesSchedule.pdf

In one of the articles I read about Oceanside Glass (the new owners of Specturm and Uroborus Glass) they mentioned that one of their first big breaks was getting to replicate the vintage tile for the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle. This interested me on several levels. One is that last year I saw the Roman Baths in Bath England. A fascinating place. Next was that in my mid 20s Patty Hearst was kidnapped. I was riveted to the story. Read the book and was totally on Patty’s side. Then the glass! How thrilling. The article compared this big break to Eric Lovel and Uroboros getting to recreate Tiffany glass for restoration. It also made me think of our early years in the glass business when we got the contract to make air control panels for a state funded program. A lot of good steady work. Certainly not as sexy as doing Tiffany or Hearst work but we were over the moon. I asked my husband how he was going to make this product that was specific in its requirements. “No idea. I never saw anything like it, I don’t think it exists, but it is a great idea”. So, he quizzed every sales person he could and found metal and a gasket that would work. The metal came from a place called Mason (still in business) and the metal number was E208. We named the air control panel an OPE208. The OP was from Oakes & Parkhurst Glass, the name of our business (also still in business). Many competitors tried to get in on that action but could never figure out where we were buying the ope208. Little did they know we were manufacturing them ourselves. They were inside panels, the gasket made them air tight. We could make them with acrylic when they were for older people who might not be able to lift them with glass. They were held on with clips that were hidden behind curtains. Easy on and easy off! We made thousands. Days, nights, weekends. One Thanksgiving afternoon our family helped so we would not miss a deadline since our employees (rightly so) wanted Thanksgiving off! But I digress! This is a picture of the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle. The tile patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5^th Century Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. Some also represent the marine monster themes that are in the ancient Roman baths. The tiles are 1” square and go ceiling to floor. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either mostly colored blue or orange or are clear with fused gold inside.

In celebration of Utah Valley University’s 75^th anniversary in November of 2016, they presented a public art project done in stained glass called Roots of Knowledge. It is a very large permanent display. Ten feet high and 200 feet in length. The mural starts with the dawn of humanity and goes to the present time. It includes ore than 60,000 pieces of glass and made up of 80 panels. More than 40 professional artists, 26 UVU scholars and hundreds of UVU students work on the project under the guidance of Utah artist Tom Holdman and Utah Valley University President Matthew Holland. The lead artist was Cameron Oskcarson. Tom Holdman, a master stained glass artist was the brains behind the project. Want to see more? https://www.uvu.edu/rootsofknowledge/

Corella Classic is made by Wissmach Glass. Wissmach glass is the second oldest glass manufacturer that is still in operation. Corella Classic is one of their many lines of cathedral glass. As always, glass is not the easiest to photograph so these don’t particularly show the special characteristics of Corella Classic. Wissmach’s description is “In contrast to the more traditional and defined patterns, with Corella Classic the color flows across the non-directional pattern for that special illumination—A shimmering reflection of light from watery surface of glass. On our website, Corella Classic is mixed in with the other cathedrals of Wissmach. http://www.stainedglassexpress.com/Stained-Art-Glass/Wissmach-Glass-Art-Glass/Wissmach-Glass-Cathedral In the store they are in their own section of the stock glass.

1840s—window glass took a step forward from the cylinder method to experiment with cast and rolled glass. This allowed larger sheets. 1800-1900s—John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany and glass chemist, Arthur Nash, were having success with color in glass. 1880s-1900—The Opalescent Age of Tiffany and LaFarge saw companies come and go. Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company founded in 1888 and The Paul Wissmach Glass Company Inc. founded in 1904 were the only two that survived and are still in operation today. Looking to repair an old piece of glass and need a match. These two companies are where to start for your glass matching. 1920s saw the Great Depression come to be and the Opalescent Age begin to die. This time also saw more of a need for better window glass and saw the development of the “continuous ribbon” production. Continuous ribbon takes four separate processes and makes them a continuous flow.

1. Mixing the raw materials.
2. Melting
3. Sheet forming
4. Annealing

This creates increased production and more uniformity. The continuous ribbon allowed for “float glass”. The float method replaced the plate method and is the process used to crate the clear class you see in window glass today. It is also the process that Spectrum Glass used. 1950s. The Studio Art movement was gaining. The legendary Harvey K. Littleton Studio of Toledo had students like Dale Chihuly, Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, Boyce Lundstrum, Dan Schwoerer, and more. These artist did so much to share the American studio glass movement.

This type of work demanded more glass of consistent quality. 1851

Glass Pioneer, Dale Chihuly

Fritz Dreisbach, goblet

BUYING A KILN It is a big decision. It is a lot of money. It is a big piece of equipment that will take up space. There really is a lot to consider.

• How much space do you have
• Do you want to go to the expense of 220 line or get by with what you already have?
• Size of the kiln
• Programming

We sell Olympic Kilns at Stained Glass Express. www.greatkilns.com. We love their support and we love the kilns. Basically, you have a box made of firebrick that is attached to a controller. So the support piece is BIG. For your workspace you should be prepared to make it a fire proof space. Easily done. Flame resistant sheetrock or metal set away from the wall. Put it on something that won’t burn. Common sense kind of stuff. Don’t burn your house down. The big difference between having a 110 line and a 220 is the depth of the kiln. When there are two elements in the kiln you can run it on a 110 line. You just have to change the outlet to accommodate the commercial plug. Consider what you want to make. Jewelry and little dishes. You are good with a little kiln. If you think BIG, you will need a bigger kiln. Maybe one with a clamshell feature so that it opens from the top and the bottom. You can get one that bottom slides out. Features to consider when thinking about putting things in the kiln and getting them back out. If you want to do tall things like a drape lamp shade or vase you should consider bringing in that 220 line. The 220 allows the kiln to have three elements and therefore it can be deeper. Everyone I know, recommends upgrading to a digital controller. One where you can save multiple programs. We sell the RTC-1000 with great results. We can store 6 programs which pretty much covers everything. What you definitely do not want is one that you have to babysit and make sure it gets turned off. You run around with a timer around your neck (seriously) and I have heard terrible results of kilns burning through when someone went to bed and forgot. One more thing to put into your brain. If you think you ever might get into glass blowing or bead making you might consider a kiln with a punty door that you can use to anneal your beads. To see what Stained Glass Express offers https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/fusing_supplies/kilns-and-accessories/

Just look at their thumbs! They are lined with little cuts! Right! So annoying! Comes from pushing little pieces of glass against the grinding wheel. Unlike when we started out in business in 1988, now there is a gadget for everything 

Did you know we do private parties at Stained Glass Express? These are plates that were made at a bridal shower! And a picture of the surprised bride.

 

Have no fear if you do not have a kiln, you can rent space in our kiln. 

Step 1. Drink the wine! No problem with that step, right?

Step 2. Make sure the bottle is clean and dry inside and out.

Step 3. Apply Spray A to the side of the bottle that will facing up in the kiln. Be sure there is no spray A on the bottom as it won't burn off against the shelf. Spray A is very finely ground glass suspended in a medium that burns off clean. It not only helps prevent devitrification (a scummy layer that can appear on the glass after it is fired), but it will also help to keep any painted labels that may be on the bottle from burning off during the firing process.

Step 4. Use a kiln shelf that has been coated with kiln wash or covered with fiber paper. Leave enough room around each bottle to accommodate the spread as the bottles flatten out.

Step 5. Kilns are different, so make adjustments as necessary for your kiln. 300 DPH (degrees per hour) to 1100, then soak for 30 minutes (this allows the glass, shelf and air to reach equal temperatures) 400 DPH to 1450 soak for 10 minutes or until the bottle is flat. (take a peek)

 Step 6. Cool AFAP (as fast as possible) to 1050 d. We don't suggest you open the lid because of the potential to thermal shock the glass. If your kiln doesn't have a controller, turn the power off until the temperature reaches 1050. Cooling quickly through the 1200 to 1350 range also helps to eliminate devitrification.

 Step 7. Hold at 1050 for 1 hour and then cool 100 DPH to 400. the annealing temperature for bottles is somewhere between 1050-850 so you want to go slowly through this range. That's it. . . you have made a great gift! Add a cheese know tied with a piece of raffia to really kick it up! You can also paint with glass paint, use decals, sandblast designs--use your imagination! We will slump your bottle for you for $10. You must have it all prepared.