Hi All!

I've used both mica and fiberglass mat...I like them both. I got my fiberglass mat from Coral.

Hi Camille, So you can place little things right on the mat and not use a trivet at all and they don't stick? I've tried that with mica sheet and as the mica breaks down it starts to stick? Is a fiber mat a better choice?

thx,
Virginia

Where do you get mica for mats? Coral also? What's the website's name?

Hi Virginia! Yes...you can put your piece directly on the mat...BUT...before you use it you need to put it into the kiln and bring it up to the temp of 1450 or 1475 to burn off whatever binders or residue are on it...the mat will turn from gray to white. There are two sides with two slightly different textures on it. You do need to be careful not to overheat or the fibers can stick onto your work and then you have to either trim them with scissors or pick them off. If you overheat, count on a very pronounced texture on the back of your piece. Other than this, they are very clean and there are no annoying mica flakes jumping onto or sticking to your work. You can also get two different types of mica from Coral, although I just use the Muscovite type. The other is supposed to stand up to more firings, or something like this...I go through mica like nobody's business so the fiberglass mat was a nice switch - when one side starts to look a little worse for wear, just flip the mat over and you have a clean fresh piece all ready to go. You definitely can put a lot of mileage on a piece before you need to cut a brand new one. Hope this helps! :)

Forgot to add that the other type of mica is more expensive...

Thanks Camille! That was great information and I really appreciate it. Does Coral have a website? I can check. thanks again. It looks like you do great figurative painting on enamel? I love the dog.

No problem...Coral's website is http://www.enamelworksupply.com/ and I think you still have to call her to place your order. I haven't tried painting with enamels yet...all my work (so far) is cloisonne. I'm getting a few more requests for pet portraits again so I'll be working on them pretty soon...mostly cats this time.

very cool. thanks for the info, camille. bye for now.
virginia

Another way to bend the corners is to put the metal in a vise so the marked line is even with the top edge of the vise jaw. Tighten the vise and then pound the extending metal flat.

 Reply by Lillian Jones 9 hours ago

I just bend some 18 ga. nichrome wire into a cradle to make kiln furniture. You can make it into any shape. I'll try and upload an image, or try this link.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11577311/Color6.jpg

Permalink Reply by Edmund J. Massow 3 hours ago

 

Production of stainless steel trivets for small and large objects

There are a lot of possibilities trivets to produce, which practical for the particular objects are. Important is to use Stainless steel sheet or stainless steel net. The steel-sheet should have a thickness of about 0,5 mm, the wires of the net should have a diameter of about 0,8-1,0 mm. Too thick steel-sheet eats to much heat, to thin net-wires are too instable!. Never use any metal which can tinder. Tinder can, during firing in the kiln, ruining your enameled objects.

Material: Stainless steel sheet 0.5 mm thick. 
Cut at regular intervals small strips into the sheet. Turn the strips with a flat plier by 90 degrees on its own axis, so that the narrow side of strips now facing upwards. Bend the strips about 45 degree upwards. Bend the longitudinal edges of the sheet by 90 degrees downward to get a bridge for the pusher.
If you adjust the strips steep or flat, you can adjust the rest to the size of the plates.  Similarly, each strip can be bent more or less steep, to adjust it to irregular objects

Here in the plate were cut ​​about 45 degrees cuts. The resulting triangles were with pliers bent-up to 90 degrees. An about 10 mm wide strip was at the longitudinal sides 90 degrees bent downwards, so that one can provide the stand with a slider into the oven and remove. This stand is not variable and is only suitable for about the same size plates

And here a simple trivet for small objects.

Cut into the sheet metal on 2 sides a straight line, at the third side a 45 degree angled  cut, so that in the center of the sheet  about 20-30 mm plate remains. Bend three wings to about 90 degree upwards. Bend on three sides a small strip 90 degree downwards to get a bridge for a pusher

This is an easy-to-do Trivet for small objects. In the sheet four triangles are cut. The triangles are bent about 45 degrees upwards. At the two strips on the sides were each 2 feet  bended. So the trivet can easily slided in and out of the kiln with a slider.
Instead of 2 triangles you can also cut several triangles to burn multiple objects simultaneously.

This is a simple, but very multifunctional solution. From a stainless-steel strip, cut off on both sides more or less steep triangles. Bend the triangles sideward. Put the bended strips onto a stainless-steel-grid. Now you can the object put on in many positions.

Last but not least you can bend a sheet in a kind of waveform. This is especially suitable for long small enamel objects.

I think the most solutions are self-explaining. If you have any question, please let me know.

Edmund

massow@emailkunst.de