Stained Glass Stuff

Friday Night Fusing Clinic

November 11th, 2005 ... All About Drop Rings

• Most commonly made of clay, like regular molds. Circular Ring is the most common style. Comes in 5", 7", 9" or 11" diameters. Most are smooth, some are textured. Could create your own with Kaiser Lee Board or fibreboard.
• Fuse your project normally first, sized to outer measurements of mold. Can do a tack fuse/slump in 1 firing if you want to.

• Place fused project on top of drop ring, and place some shelf paper directly underneath drop ring's hole. You could use Lava Cloth or fibreboard for a different finish on the bottom.
• Can place drop ring flat on kiln shelf without posts, to make a plate. The larger drop ring molds are usually slightly taller, and can be made to look quite different by varying the temperature you slump at. The interior sides are typically steep, and it takes along time to drop the glass right down to take the exact shape of the mold.
• It is more fun to use kiln posts to elevate the drop ring mold. Varying the height of the posts will allow you to have different shapes with the same mold. We stock ½", 1", 2" and 3" posts. Pottery supply stores should have posts that are 4", 6", 8" or even taller ones available.
• The taller the posts, the longer and/or hotter you will have to fire your kiln. Keep in mind the depth of your kiln. Don't elevate the mold so high so that the glass is too close to the elements in the lid. You don't want to thermal shock your project.
• When using an elevated drop ring, you should be thinking ahead to how you want to display the finished product. As a stand-alone piece, in a drop ring stand, hanging smoothly, with a flattened-out bottom, and then how wide of a bottom?
• If you are firing multiple drop rings at the same height in a kiln at the same time, they should be of similar colours and thicknesses, to ensure they drop to the same distance, assuming of course you are trying to make them all about the same.
• Until you have perfected doing a drop ring with a particular fused project on it, it is a very good idea to be around to watch the glass drop down, to make sure it does not drop too far down, and the let the bottom spread out to a wider diameter than the hole the glass is coming down through. If it goes too far, you will not be able to get the glass out without breaking the mold or the glass.
• If possible, be around to flash vent the kiln to 'freeze' the drop ring at the right time. If you let it coast down to anneal soak temperature, it may still slump down a little beyond where you wanted it to be.
• If you do let the glass get wider than the mold opening, you do have one chance to fix it. Put it back in the kiln with slightly higher kiln posts, fire to the same top temperature, and watch carefully for the glass to drop down just a little, contact the shelf, and hopefully contract enough so you can get the glass back out once cool.
• If you do have a disaster, you can break it apart and save the various parts for a future project. Very thin side wall bits, a blob at the bottom, the remains of the top ring, all can be used again.
• Never refuse to Re-Fuse!
• If your kiln has a window, try to position the drop ring right in front of the window for doing a drop ring, so you can watch it closely. It is hard to gage how wide the base is from an overhead view when the kiln is firing.

Typical Firing Schedule for a (7" Circular) Drop Ring, elevated 2", Full fused. 5 Segments:

#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
250	600	999	9999	20
500	800	1250	950	800
0	0	30	90	5