Glassblower.Info - Kiln-Formed Glass: Pot Melt - Pot Drop - Mesh Melt

Ramp Degrees F per Hour	to Temperature Degrees F	Hold
600 DPH	1700	1 hour 30 minutes (later changed to 2 hours)
9999 DPH	1500	45 minutes
9999 DPH	960	2 hours (later changed to 3 hours then 4 hours as pieces got thicker)
200 DPH	600	5 minutes

Internet Links for finding out how to make a pot melt (pot drop) with your kiln
www.wikihow.com	How to Use a Pot Melt Technique with Bullseye Glass
www.clearwaterglass.com	Aperture Pour Tutorial by Steve Immerman of Clearwater Glass Studio
www.clearwaterglass.com	Glass Craftsman, Feb-March 2005 - BATCH: The Pot Melt Defined, by: Judith Conway
www.clearwaterglass.com	Wire Mesh Melt Tutorial - with wonderful photos
www.igrowhydro.digitalbeachworld.com	Pot Melt Tutorial ny Laurie and Joel Spray Bonny Doon Fused Glass Art (485 KByte PDF file)
www.glass-fusing-made-easy.com	Designing a Pot Melt
www.glassfacts.info	Pot Melt Calculator: Use this calculator to determine how much glass (by weight) is needed for a specific size pot-melt. Enter any two of the values below (size, thickness, weight), select your glass, and click "Go!"
www.kiloalphatango.com	Latest pot melt
bonnydoonfusedglassart.blogspot.com	Pot Melt Pots for Sale - Made to Your Dimensions
www.warmglass.com	Pot Melt Questions ???
www.warmglass.com	Pot Melt Tutorial
www.warmglass.com	New Pot Melt Setup
www.warmglass.com	Pot/Mesh melt Mush
www.cgge.org Creative Glass Guild of Etsy	Pot Melt Party
prizmaticart.blogspot.com	Prizmatic Art - How to do mesh melts with a few strands of wire - with good photos and informative text.

5-Hole flower pot but with center hole blocked with fiber frax
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
13.5 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheet glass (6.6 ounces of five opaque colors plus 6.9 ounces of opaque white)

6" x 5" stainless steel perforated sheet.
holes 0.5" diameters on 0.75" centers
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
12.5 ounces Spectrum 96 sheets.

6" x 5" stainless steel perforated sheet.
holes 0.5" diameters on 0.75" centers
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
16.0 ounces Spectrum 96 sheets and some clear nuggets.

5-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
16.0 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets and some clear nuggets.

5-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
12.4 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets and some clear nuggets.

7-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
13.2 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets and some clear nuggets.

5-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
16.0 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets and some clear nuggets.

5-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
10.5 ounces of Bullseye Round Rods (red-white-blue)

6" x 5" stainless steel perforated sheet.
holes 0.5" diameters on 0.75" centers
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
11.1 ounces of Bullseye Round Rods.

Click here or here to see the nice back of the piece.

5-Hole flower pot with four steel separators.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
10.2 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.

Trying the crude array of steel wires again.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
10.8 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.
Placed some clear on top, too much ended up on one edge.

Used a crude array of steel wires.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
10.6 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets. Click here to see just the bare wires
Everything is hel in place with a soft-brick capstone
Here is what the wires and finished piece look like in the kiln after firing

4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
14.0 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.
Trying something new -- four 30-gauge steel separators to try to keep the 5 holes
(especially the center as a contrasting color) separate.
Also trying to make the pieces uniform in size to make loading/pattern perhaps more consistent.
Each piece is approx 3" tall and 1-1/8" wide.
4 pieces of glass (in contrasting colors to the white base) are loaded into each of the 5 sections.
Total 20 pieces of glass.

4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
10.5 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.
Trying something new -- four 30-gauge steel separators to try to keep the 5 holes
(especially the center as a contrasting color) separate.
The red in the center was cherry translucent, it appears more opaque in the finished piece
(because the red appears on top of an opaque background).

4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
11.9 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.

4" diameter Flower Pot with SEVEN Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
13.3 ounces of Spectrum 96 Sheets.

4" diameter Flower Pot with 3 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
8.4 ounces of bullseye round rods, cut to approx 3.25-inch sections, held together by wire.
(not enough to fill the 6" ring)

click here to see the back of the piece,
which has a different/interesting pattern.

4" diameter Flower Pot with SEVEN Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
12.5 ounces of bullseye round rods, cut to approx 3.25-inch sections, held together by wire.

4" diameter Flower Pot with only 3 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
7.4 ounces of bullseye round rods, cut to approx 3.25-inch sections, held together by wire.
This was not enough to fill in the 6" stainless steel circle, but did make a nice "owl's eyes" oval.

4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
12.1 ounces of bullseye round rods, cut to approx 3-inch sections, held together by wire.
used wire to roughly keep the bundle in the center of the flower pot (i.e. not to one side).
Tried to keept he red-and-white in the middle, with the blue-and-white on the outside.

4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
15.7 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets, cut up into very medium-size pieces.
Tried to keep darker colors (alternating) to the outside,
lighter colors (alternating) to the center.

Returning to the smaller 4" diameter Flower Pot with 5 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
12.0 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets, cut up into very small pieces.

6" diameter Flower Pot with 7 Holes in the bottom.
6" diameter stainless steel ring.
17.2 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets.

6" diameter flower pot with 7 holes in the bottom.
33.2 ounces of glass. The amount of glass determined with the help of
this online GlassFacts.info calculator.
The 8" Stainless Steel Heart Mold (former) was purchased from
Laurie Spray, please see this web page..
For the purpose of the calculator, I believe my 8" heart has roughly the same area
as an 8" diameter circle.
My two strips of soft fire brick are resting directly on top of the stainless steel mold.

First try of a larger 6" diameter flower pot, with 7 holes in the bottom.
15.5 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets plus 1.6 ounces cherry red bullseye round rod.
The 6" stainless steel ring is underneath.

click here to see the back of the piece,
which has a different/interesting pattern.

This is my first pot melt which drops into a 6" stainless steel ring
(lined with 1/8-inch fiber board)
This finally gives me a well-defined finished shape, plus I can make a deeper (thicker) piece,
since the glass is no longer free-flowing to 5mm thickness on its own.
From this piece, I surmise that the final colors dropped in the center of the spiral are
the left-overs from the prior pot melt which were on the inside edges of the flower pot
(in this piece you see a bit of yellow and orange).
Increased weight to 17.2 ounces of Spectrum 96 sheets (and using more of a dark blue)
5-hole flower pot as before, and especially in this piece you can see the 5 sections.

Using an "Orchid Flower Pot" which has holes on the bottom SIDES
(for the orchid roots to go through since orchids are epiphytic)
13.3 ounces Spectrum 96 sheets
I increased the time at 1700F from 1.5 hours to 2 hours
to avoid a stalactite between the flower pot and the piece.