Think I had seen that business before. Good stuff. So what's motivating you to make your own crucible? Best, Kelly
Having seen the success others have had, i just have to try it. Plus I have most of the materials on hand. Just need some borosilicate glass. Cant be that difficult can it??
Must say I have been tempted. If I was consuming crucibles it may be a different priority but at 2yrs and 50c/melt I'm gonna devote the time to other projects for now. However, looking forward to your thread! Best, Kelly
Hiho,I (wasted au$800) doing s glass casting course..where as lead Crystal should be cooked for days (depending on mold size etc) where as I brought in a new pyrex baking dish ( b4 they changed the recipe) ,smashed it to bits filled my per made investment molds (plaster & silica sand mix) & loaded the kiln along with all the class's molds,a week later,next glass crack open my Pryrex molds & had the teacher laugh in my face,because my art pieces had a glass disease.. i.e it had been truly over cooked, & it gets a weird scabby coating over the glass & even ended up more sintered than fused ... (The rest might seem a bit of a rant against the established art / farty types,feel free to stop here..) Or skip to the last paragraph to read of how crucibles where made 1800/ early 1900's... & am paying through the ass for a Uni trained fine arts teacher & private glass caster, to laugh in my face for crap she should of pointed out b4 I wasted my time & $'s... its put me off for life doing class,(well I dont mind doing industrial related coures,that will lead to a newly minted work related job) I'd now raver spend my hard earned $'s on buying my own art equipment & make my own mistakes for free!... Pryrex is a 8 hour cycle,not that my stuck up teacher told me that ! (& old Pryrex dish's go for a bomb on ebay,so collectible !) ,& pay back.2nd class.I'd taken in some of my finnished wax masters,she got supper excited about them & wonted to show them off to the class ( to a class of chased up *retirees & 20 something honney bunnys doing a finishing school arty class ( so if your a 20 something male, great place to meet girls bugger this online dating cr@p..) Or retirees who could easily/eagerly pirate my work b4 I could afford to produce it myself ) Her nose went right out of joint when I told her ..Noo there's pat pending on these objects... & where as there was a contact she gave the whole class for lead Crystal billit ,& encouraged the class to go to her freinds gallery/ work shop. Where as when I rang ahead,Asked if he could make coloured Pryrex billit,I got a personal delivery from said glass billit maker instead (WTF? just got weirder & weirder).. Again his nose was out of joint becouse I didnt ( more like wouldnt ) Show him my wax masters. Than even shut doors to me when I whent to a local pro kiln maker / hirer of kilns (turns out both the teacher & billit maker are bum cums with kiln hire dude.. My $ couldn't hire anything from this twit..so glad to see his business fold a few years later.. Tork about closed shop networks. I have since come across other non uni trained - self tort artists & they too have told me their same treatment from established artists = scared of a bit of competition,what f@*ken wall flowers.. .all most end of rant.. but be aware of so call teacher/ privite schools/ artisan work shops ie a 3 day knife making workshop here Australia $3000 (us$2500) & all you get out of it is a knife you made yourself,, & the twit I meet who happily blow that $3k was telling me to weld over my 176 year old anvil face..all that bullshite info from a 3 day course... Crucibles.. crucibles & how to make them,I'v read old i.e 1900's books that where even short of info. But was intrigued by the 1900 description of 'pot maker's' stomping bear foot on their fireclay/ graphite mix. & how they had a feel for what was a good mix...
Local to me, with perhaps a broader line of supplies: https://www.baileypottery.com/store-dept-clay-chemicals.html Something to keep in mind, potters don't seem to mind fines in their materials. Making a extra-fine sand from 325 mesh silica doesn't really work, it comes as anything 325 and smaller, not say under 325 and over 400. Probably half the weight finer than 600. In a foundry sand it takes away the pore space. I've looked at it for home made k-bond delft clay, none of my trials satifying yet. Maybe some year I'll set up a fan next to the garden and winnow, keep the short-fall and blow the fines onto the garden.
