Have you ever seen vitrigraph glass? Hot about a pot melt? Similar techniques for handling melted glass. Basically glass is placed in a terra cotta flower pot ( german made so it can handle high temperatures) that has a hole in the bottom, placed in a kiln, raised up to allow the glass to flow through the hole once it reaches the proper temperature. With a pot melt there’s a mold or kiln shelf under the raised pot to catch the glass as it flows out. For vitrigraph the kiln must be raised up rather high to allow the glass to almost drip out of the kiln. The kiln used for this must have no bottom. It’s placed on kiln shelves that have been separated enough for the glass to pass by. I’ve seen the kilns raised up with a forklift. Also on a scaffolding unit. One of my glass buddies, Larry Cunningham has come up with a unit that attaches to the wall so you can almost do this at home. HIs unit is the Turbo Lift.
I’ve been fortunate enough to participate with Larry and my other glass buddy, Leigh Adams in a class we like to call “Extreme Vitrigraph”. When Leigh and Larr do it it’s called “Dancing with Glass’, when I’m there it’s Extreme…we add my torches to the mix to embellish the pieces that are pulled from the kiln. Check out this web site, www.glass-fusing-made-easy.com to get a bit more insight in the process. I’ll talk with Larry in a future blog to have him explain his vitirgraph kiln. In the meantime enjoy the dance with glass. Check it out with this video of the Turbo Lift, his vitrigraph kiln.
