Church Windows

[JudyK]

Because the pieces were unevenly layered, the odds for great stress building up in the glass, were good. I annealed for 4 hours. Several pieces came out perfect. The rest needed a little more. So when I recooked them to a fire polish to shine where I ground off the irid, I gave them another 4 hour annealing.

To see stress in transparent glass I place the piece on a sheet of polarized film, then place an other piece over it at 90 degree turn. And look at it on a light table. If there is stress in the glass it glows a white light.

This little mitten turned out great. No stress.

I made it with a single layer of glass much bigger than the pattern. Double layers for the flower. I score fused glass on the back. It is flat and easier to break nice lines.

[JudyK]

Here are 2 pieces under polarized film that has some stress in it.

This is a piece I cut last year. When I picked up the sheet from the rack it broke in four peices in my hands. SURPRISE! So today I decided to check this glass under the film and sure enough , it has stress in it. I checked many other pieces and found one more.

So I guess even the big boys miss one once in a while. I now know to check when a piece is giving me trouble. I have been told if a piece is giving you a real problem cutting to put it in the kiln and re-anneal. Now I have seen two for myself.

[JoanFrances]

Judy, does this hold true for all glass or just for the glass you use for kiln firing?  If it works for all glass, where do you get that paper?

[JudyK]

All things are possible. BUT most glass is machine made now, so I think your odds are greatly reduced of getting a problem like this. The stressed glass I have is hand made antique glass, So the odds go up there might be a renegade in the bunch.

I know the American glass is tested regularly, not sure about the Chinese Glass I have heard about that comes from Hobby Lobby. But then I have no HL up here. My only options are American glass. The antique glass I have is from Germany.

The good thing is I always anneal, even when I fire paint. Some folks fire paint real fast and don't anneal, so I think I have dealt with any stress that came my way. I was just surprised to find it.

Joan I bought a 18" x 12" piece of polarized film on line a few years ago. Cut it in 2 and mounted them in matt board. I think it cost around $35 then. You place your first film on a light table, then your glass on it. The second film goes on top of the glass turned 90 degrees. It is a very good thing for fusers to have. I don't think is neccesary at all for someone who has no kiln because there is nothing you can do if you have a cranky piece of glass.

That said, cold glass is always cranky. And mine is near freezing right now being crated in a corner of the studio. So I have to pull it out and set it be the heater for hours before I cut it. Being cold can make anyone cranky. You should see my family right now, it's been -36F for 4 days.

[Kev]

Looking good Judy!

[JudyK]

Five of the many fused pieces came out stress free. I am now thinking that some of the clear glass I was using was not completely compatible , Growl.

I'll start over with them.

[JudyK]

After Church I will run a clear sample compatibility test.

[JudyK]

I missed a post here some how, holiday madness maybe. So here is November 22's post:

Well I have not run the clear test yet. I was pretty disgusted with the whole thing. Spent yesterday playing northern woman, hauled firewood and did inventory for the big grocery run to town Wednesday. We are headed 4hrs south this time to Wasilla. Not my idea of a good time in the cold, oh well.

So I started cutting what I do have and some regular glass cutting. The thicker fused pieces cut pretty well if I scored them on the back. A few , like this piece of the fire pit shrunk up farther than planned and did not want to cut nice so I used the nippers to do the cranky side of the glass and then cleaned it up with my grinder.

The little mitten makes me happy. The flower pattern is a traditional knit pattern up here. The other mitten will have a traditional beading pattern on it. After the piece is cut and ground if needed. I stick it to the glass tilt table with modeling clay. It is so much easier to clean off than hot wax.

Last I put the pattern piece in a bag marked with that part of the window. Just incase I need it again. By using a stiff paper pattern and cutting against the paper the cutting comes out almost perfect. The little bit of grinding to refine the edge can be done without gluing the pattern to the glass. Just line up the pattern and look, grind the little spot, dry, line up the pattern again and look at it against a light to see the glass that needs more grinding. When it's all done I have a nice clean pattern piece to store. When I was using contact paper I was constantly chasing the paper around the glass as it loosened up. Then I tried sharpie, the line would float away, grrrrrrr. I like this best.

[JudyK]

It's the little irritating things that keep me alive, I guess. Otherwise it might get boring.

I have tested all my antique scraps now and found half have a little stress in them. The bad yellow one is getting reanneaed as I write. Tomorrow I wil do the other half of the sheet. The other stuff I will make sure to anneal when I paint them. Hopefully that is enough.

I have also decided to toss all my years of clear glass scraps and start over. IT's that or spend days testing all my scraps to find out why the clear is giving me fits. I wonder if I have not been fighting this for years in several projects.

Here are photos of the woman making bread and the box of bread, lined with fabric. They glow like night lights under polarized film. They look fine without it, but the hidden stress would break in time and then some poor sap would have to try to replace fused painted glass. not an easy task. So I am tired of fighting this battle and will order new fusible clear and start testing it gainst some of my colored fusible. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[JudyK]

I hate to throw away glass, even clear. Maybe I will use it in a glass on glass mosaic or something. Grrrrrr

[JudyK]

Some of you have followed the first windows progress via emails and I am sure got tired of hearing about the frames. Well, one of the frames was racked sideways, not square. I tried and tried to get the carpenter to fix it. He finally did, so both frames are square now. BUT they are far from flat!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO I still need to take the time and space to figure out how to flatten them. I was storing the first window, Immaculate Conception in it's frame for protection, but I had to shim the twisted corner . The worst frame is off by a couple inches, it's for the first window. The the secong frame is only an inch off and can be fairly easily pushed into compliance.

[JudyK]

Because one frame was also built "out of square" by 1/2". I returned it to the carpenter and told him we needed to build a new frame when the window was finished. I built my pattern with that in mind. When he returned it and said it was fixed I then had to adjust my pattern to fit the old one. Luckily this adjustment was only 1/8" in width and 1/4" in hight. So I added tape to the edges of the pieces and made new Red lines for the new pattern edges

[JudyK]

And the sun did not make it up high enough to clear the clouds yesterday. We will loose it for 6 weeks any day now. But it is still showing on the mountain tops to the north of us.

These photos are from up on the hill near Otto Lake, my studio/house is down in the valley to the north.

Last night the wind finally came and brought up the temp to 28F above. That is dangerously close to 32 which is a death sentence of slipping on ice for the rest of the winter. It has been -20 to -38 for 2 weeks, the warmth is welcome but not too much and not the wind. This morning the trees are bare and the world is drifted.

DH woke up to tripping over the frames in the dining room. I wanted to feel bad for him, but the reason I can't fix them myself is he has stored an old airplane wing on top of the woodworking tools. Space is a premium here.

I am still working but it often feels like I am working backwards. Just reallllllly slow. But I am working. And I know this sounds like a lot of complaining, and maybe it is. But this information is just part of this project. I am actually in good spirits.

[Kev]

Beautiful pics Judy. I look forward to seeing your progression on this wonderful journey. Stay warm and upright...no slipping!

[JudyK]

Amen! Thanks. It just hit 33 degrees. I hope it stops. I hate ice.

Have a great day Kev

[JudyK]

I just checked the reannealed glass under the polarized film. It is better but not perfect. So I have emailed a friend who knows all about anneaing.

[JudyK]

 

I have heard of glass cutting like butter but never experienced it. Wow, the re-annealed stuff is fun to cut. I love this, and it was such a nightmare before. Tempting to re-anneal lots of glass..... but I don't have time.

[Rosemary]

Stunning photos Judy - my huskies will be quite at home there, I think :)

[JudyK]

Yes they would, come up for a visit.

[ct4mom]

Awesome work Judy..Love to follow thus process and love the pics. A winter wonderland you live in.....stay warm and hope your sunless days goes quick.