Question on boro components

[nevadaglass]

Hi all, I have been making boro flowers and also making leaves using a leaf masher and I want to combine all the components onto a tree so I started making a series of branches to put the leaves and flowers on.

I have read a hundred different methods - anneal, dont anneal, only heat the ends, work one side and out, etc...so after all the wealth of info, I am still sketchy about how I should combine all these components.

My first assumption was that I was going to put everything in the annealer cold and then bring the annealer up to about 1100 then pull out a branch, leaf and flower and combine those 3 then put back in the kiln and anneal.

What I am a bit fearful of is the ever present possibility of "ping" when combining the branches all together to a trunk to make a tree. Any good tips on how to combine all the componets?

I suspect before I am done, I will have about 50 individual components to combine together.

My first thought was to take 3 (leaf, branch , flower) combine those together - that then becomes a single component (branch with flower and leaf) that can be combined with another brnahc, flower, lef after they have been joined as well.....

Anneal it..., the put components back in kiln cold and bring up to temp.

Keep repeating those steps of bringing up to temp in the kiln , pull out of kiln, into flame and then combine with another component. Continue until scultpure is complete. Is this a bad way of doing this?

[Cosmo]

When I do stuff like that, I assemble them cold, then put the whole thing into the kiln when I'm done.

Borosilicate doesn't like to endure small changes in temperature. It likes to be room temp or raging hot, and not much in between. So if you heat them in the kiln and then take them out of the kiln and then put them in the flame, you probably have a better chance of cracking them than if you work from cold pieces.

You also don't want to keep heating the entire piece like you do soft glass.

[pipyr]

I would work from the inside out. Start with the trunk, add the branches, add little "stems" (dots) for the flowers and leaves, then add the flowers and leaves. It might be a good idea to heat the leaves and flowers up in the kiln before attaching them. That said, I would be too lazy...easier to work them cold and just use tweezers to hold them to put them on When you are working on attaching the flowers and leaves, it is very, very important to keep the flame *off* the trunk. You don't want to heat that part up again. Attach the leaves closest to the trunk first, and then move your way out. Don't do one branch at a time...work the whole tree. I hope that helped!

[Shawn T]

Just one suggestion from me: Measure your kiln door before you start to assemble your piece.

[Crazy Woman]

Originally Posted by Shawn T

Just one suggestion from me: Measure your kiln door before you start to assemble your piece.

Just wondering how you know that??? Me three... lol...

[nevadaglass]

thanks all - that helps alot...I guess I thought it was better to keep the whole thing hot as I had trouble with my first scuplture as I kept brushing other components with the flame and would hear quite the little melody of pings and chings..... Having worked alot with soft glass and trying to convert over to boro - they are 2 worlds apart.... So once I get the trunk complete, I will start from the ground up to attach all the components. If I actually pull this off, I will post pics!

thanks again.....

[nevadaglass]

Originally Posted by pipyr

..............Don't do one branch at a time...work the whole tree. I hope that helped!

Okay- call me dense but what exactly do you mean by work the whole tree rather than attaching one branch at a time.... THis is what I interpreted it to mean:

build the trunk base, attach a branch, continue working up to build the trunk, attach the next branch , continue working up until the entire trunk including all of the branches are all attached. Once all of the branches are attached and the trunk and branches complete a "tree assmebly" then add leaves and flowers (since I intend to add the leaves and flowers to the ends of the branches and not close to trunk.)

[nevadaglass]

Originally Posted by Shawn T

Just one suggestion from me: Measure your kiln door before you start to assemble your piece.

Since I dont really have a good lampworking annealer yet - I intend to put it in my big fusing kiln to anneal - as long as I stay below 14 inches, it will fit since its a top load kiln......

Okay so its not a very green solution yet, but I have to make due with what I have /wink

- NOTE TO SELF - make sure to use an anneal program and not a full fuse program......btdt...

[sean.m]

You probably already realized this, but don't forget to adjust your annealing temp. I'm assuming you don't fuse boro

[nevadaglass]

thanks Sean, I was going to go with a 1020 anneal temp and soak for 2 hrs.....is that too low?

[glassshack]

I do a lot of componant building .... if I were to make a tree as your talking about ... I would do the base and main trunk first .... garage that .... make the braches 1 at a time and pull the main base from the kiln and add it ... garage .. make a branch, add it .... you could make 3 or 4 branches ... and add those at one time ... when done ... put the entire piece in oven .... make the flowers and leaves .... hot plate those and pull out tree ... add a couple .... garage for 15 min ... add a couple ... you get the picture ... you would be surprised on just how much time you really do have if you give the piece at least 15 mins to soak up some heat .... loose a couple and you really get the idea GL and I hope you'll share the pictures when your done!

[nevadaglass]

Thanks Glassshack - I finally finished my tree ( will try to post a pic tomorrow since I am not at the studio a.t.m.) and while its not real elaborate, its my first tree so I'm stoked....

I did run into trouble a bit with the main trunk - it kept cracking and I finally ended getting the whole trunk glowing to heal the cracks and then put the branches on right then and throwing it in the annealer.

Part of the problem was I was trying to add branches that were made weeks ago to the trunk after the trunk had already cooled and with the trunk being almost an inch in diameter - it hated being brushed with heat.

On the next item, whatever it is - I will follow your advice GS and make the whole dang thing from start to finish, garaging it all along the way instead of trying to assemble it one component at a time stretched out over days to weeks. That technique doesnt seem to work too well .

One more thought - I really want to adjust one of the flowers as I dont like the position its in but I'm scared to actually try to adjust it as I am afraid it will crack if I heat it up and then I will end up with a chain reaction of cracks all over the place as I attempt to fix the previous crack and yes, I have been down that road before - its not pretty and then neither am I after that! LMAO!!!

[gmkcpa]

To straighten out one flower, if you have a hand-held torch that can give you a really small pinpoint flame, you can try putting the very edge of that flame on the point where the leaf needs to be bent, heat it up and bend it. This will only work with patience, and if your small flame will not touch or go near any other part of the project! If you are trying to fix an interior leaf, forget it-don't even try it-too dangerous.

Incidentally, is it you who thinks the leaf is crooked, or does a stranger look at it and say "hey, that leaf is crooked"? We tend to be way too picky with our own work.

[nevadaglass]

gm - its me - but I was able to use my lil smith torch and straighten out the one outer flower (the very top flower) - I didnt like the direction it was pointing ( it was sideways)...

[nevadaglass]

[nevadaglass]

[glassshack]

Great job!

[deb tarry]

This looks difficult good job.