My First Pot Melt

I should stop going onto glassy websites, the stuff is way too tempting, and after a few glasses of wine a couple of weeks ago I went onto the Slumpys website and ended up with a load of new molds for glass bowls and a Pot Melt kit !!

Having never done a Pot Melt before, and there being no instructions in the kit that arrived, a lot of Googling and asking advice followed.

So, what is a Pot Melt? Well you simply fill a bowl with holes in the bottom full of bits of scrap glass (compatible of course), prop up the bowl and fire the kiln to a high enough temperature to allow the glass to melt and dribble out.

First of all I lined the bottom of the kiln with a really expensive fibre paper (cost £10 for a piece big enough to line the kiln and you can only use it once!!) then layed a steel casting ring, also lined with fibre paper, on top.

Next I put the bowl prop in over the top of the casting ring.

Then I found all my scraps of compatible glass and filled the bowl. You are supposed to use 3.5lb of glass to make a 12" melt, but I did just under 3lb otherwise the lid on the kiln would not have shut !

There was supposed to be a gap of about 3" for airflow, I am lucky if there was half an inch!

A pat for luck, and a long night chewing nails ahead.

So, this is what I found in the morning......

A gorgeous ceramic bowl full of smeared glass :) Except that is just a piece of the kit which will need to be re-used, so a waste of prettyness really.

Hmmmm....obviously that half a pound of glass does make a difference, as the casting ring was not full.

Still, it's my first one and lessons were definately learned from the process....

1. Find a cheaper option to line the kiln with, cannot afford to line it at £10 a time.


2. Do not use as much dark glass, although I didn't think I had, the darker colours really took over.


3. Buy a smaller casting ring, or make my own :)


4. Get a spirit level and check the kiln, as the melt was half an inch thicker at one side than the other.


5. Buy a grinder to take the fibre paper off the back of the disc with :) (Any excuse!!)