gott steamer pad

[pyrorob05]

http://www.northernheat.ca/hand_shaping_pad.html

So i bought one of these steam pads for the hotshop at school as far as im told its a graphite fabric(more like felted together fibers) anyway ive always used my L-marver cupped in my hand and used it a lot like i would paper something in the hot shop so i decided to give it a try on boro and it works great! it gives me a lot more hands on control when im shaping things than a L shaped marver. I can control the pressure where i want it with my fingers. its the closest ive gotten to "hands on" shaping the glass. anyway i was curious if anyone else had tried this before?

-rob

[somberbear]

hum seams cool.

might have to give it a shot.

peace
rob

[LTD]

Seems pretty sweet!

[dellis326]

Cool Idea, I like the idea of using my hands to work the glass more directly, but you'll find that the graphite fibers will break down faster at the heat of boro then if you just used it in the hot shop.

I talked to Alan once about the graphite sheet he sells and according to him the life of graghite sheet at boro annealing temps is half to a third of that of soft glass. This is for graphite fiber products not solid block. I'd be interested in know how long it lasts you cuz it's a cool technique and tool use if is more money then it's worth.

[pyrorob05]

they have the pro's and cons if u have color on the outside it will tear up the pad fairly quick. i.e. if your rough like tryiing ro marver in wrap and wrakes or something like that bust as far as useing for I/O glass it seems ideal to me. you however do have to work gently with them when your squeezing out the water and keeping them always wet, and not attacking it with soupy gathers.its only felted together graphite fibers so the only thing holding it together is itself ive seen these last well over a year in hot shop application with heavy production use everyday. ill give it more testing but as far as i can tell it isnt breaking the pad down any faster than useing it in the hot shop. it just seems to me a flat marver doesnt always offer the finnesse i want.

i was wondering about those kiln shelf liners though they look sick even if they do break down faster at boro temps

[HumanLathe]

I like to roll my powders on with the powder in a piece of tinfoil in my hand so I can press it on. I bet it's great being able to manipulate the glass a little with your fingers. Sounds cool!

[dellis326]

The shelf liners work great at 960f. I haven't tried them in my boro kiln but I put a few pieces in our color box on the brick and they flaked apart with-in a couple of months at 1020 to 1050f

[pyrorob05]

thanks for that tin foil tip that seems like like it would speed up how many heats it takes to get how much powder/frit you want on the piece im gonna use that plus clean up is a lot easier than washing frit bowls