A New Member Of The Studio
Exciting news! Blazing Star Arts is now the proud owner of a vitrograph kiln, a kiln where glass flows out of the bottom of the furnace where it can be manipulated. So, what does that mean and how does it work?
A pot of glass pieces is place inside the Vitrograph and fired to around 1700 degrees. This is done slowly so the glass melts evenly. Once molten, we use pliers or our hands, covered in heat proof gloves, to pull the glass down into different thicknesses and lengths of strands or rods. This is especially effective in creating branches and trunks for trees.
This picture shows Sue pulling a long piece from a very hot kiln! You can see the glass is red (hot) where it comes out of the kiln and how she pulls it downward.
We can also manipulate the glass as we pull it to create twists, curves, and other shapes. And, we can adjust the temperature up or down to make thicker (cooler temp) or thinner (hotter temp) stringer and hot parts. In this photo, we are using a stainless steel rod to create a spiral of glass.
Can you imagine all the amazing pieces we can make with this new addition to our studio?