Stained Glass Forms

[marshawk]

Have any of you guys ever made forms for stained glass makers?

We currently are working on a project for a local church that needed a large stained glass window refurbished and the sash replaced. We got a visit from the stained glass guy the other day and he asked us about forms on which to melt the glass inside of his furnace. From what I understand, the heat used is about 1400F. He wants to put the glass on the form, stick it in the furnace and allow it to melt sufficiently to cover the form.

Then, after reading the soapstone/corian thread, It occurred to me that maybe one of these products may suffice.

Any ideas?

Chip

[Brady Watson]

Yes. Take a trip down to Wheaton Village (Millville) with your brother 'Burger King'...I was just there yesterday & there are hundreds of molds there & very knowledgable staff. Some are metal...some are made from 'fruit woods'. They are open Fri-Sun.

-Brady

[patricktoomey]

Chip,

I do glass work including slumping and casting. I just got my ShopBot and am getting ready to do my first mold using it. Basically when I make casting or slumping molds by hand I carve some soft wood to the desired shape. Then, depending on if it's a positive or negative mold (slumping the glass into or over the mold or melting the glass into a mold) I either pour refactory casting material, kind of like ceramic over the wooden mold or into it. The refactory material is what will go into the kiln. The wood could never withstand a firing so it would be used only to make your final mold out of the refactory material. There are many types of material you can use for making glass molds that can withstand firing temps.

Here is a link to a maker of slumping molds so you can see what the final molds look like... http://www.slumpys.com/SlumpysStore/

And here is an excellent resource site for warm glass work...
http://www.warmglass.com/molds_for_slumping.htm

The reason I make wood molds first is because the final clay or ceramic molds that go in the kiln only last for so many firings before they deteriorate. I have gotten as many as 50 firings and as few as 1 out of a mold. So I make the wood master so that I can make copies later. I'm looking forward to using the bot to make my molds. I'll post some pics of my first attempts along with the resulting ceramic molds and glass pieces made from them.

[patricktoomey]

Chip,

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that Corian disintegrates at heats well below the point where glass will get soft since it is basically a plastic resin. Also it will burn and smoke terribly possibly damging the kiln so don't try that. Don't ask me how I know :-( I don't believe soapstone would work either since even the tiniest bit of residual moisture in it will cause it to explode in the kiln. The clay or ceramic molds must be carefully baked before use to remove EVERY bit of water or they will shatter upon final firing for sure.

Hope this helps