New glass toys

I ordered a few new molds from Delphi Glass several weeks ago and the melt pot kit was on backorder, so it held up delivery for a while.  The order finally came in last week just before I had to run out for a meeting.  So, I had to wait to unpack my toys until the next day.  One of the things that intrigued me greatly (so of course I just HAD to buy it), was a melt pot kit.

What is that, I hear you ask?  The kit consists of 4 x 3" posts, a support for the pot, and a set of 4 pots with different combinations of single or multiple round or rectangular holes in the bottom of each pot.  The photo shows the loaded setup in my kiln before I shut the door and started the firing cycle.  (Double click to enlarge it.)

The idea is that once the glass gets to the melting point, the molten glass will run out of the holes in the bottom of the melt pot and create a round blank centered below the pot.  The size of the finished blank is determined by the amount of glass that is loaded into the pot.  The instructions gave a sample of 2.6 pounds to create a 9 inch round blank after firing.

The pot I chose for my first experiment was the 3 rectangular holed pot.  (Shucks, I just realized that I didn't take a picture of the pot itself before firing.  Ah, well, I'll show you the pot after the firing is over.)  So, I loaded up the melt pot with three pounds of glass scraps, which according to my calculations should yield about a 10.5 inch round glass blank when it gets done firing.  There was also an 11" wavy bowl mold in the order, which I plan to use with the blank that I'm creating in this process, assuming that it turns out well.

One of the most fun parts of this is that there is very little control of what happens as the glass melts and runs out of the pot onto the kiln shelf below.  You can control how you load the scraps into the pot and how you orient each color above the holes, but that's about it.  So, for this process, it's a matter of experiment, record what you do, and then wait to see how that turns out.  Then, if you don't like the result, vary your loading and the amount of glass and try again.  I promise to let you know how this one turns out - good or bad...