Glass Casting in a Kiln

Casting glass in a kiln is fun and easy. You can do you fill in the fine detail in the mold. Don’t just coat
miniature figures, design elements to be tack fused the inside part of the mold that will be filled with
to other projects, jewelry cabochons, or sculptures glass but also coat the top upper surface to allow
as big as your kiln can accommodate. Any for any glass spilling out of the mold pocket.
material that will stand up to the temperatures at
which glass full fuses and will either not stick to the
glass or can be coated to prevent sticking to the Preparing the Mold with Boron Nitride
glass can be used as a mold. You can use molds
you buy or make your own from found objects. Sprayed on boron nitride will produce a smoother
finish on kiln castings and will also reduce any
spikes along the edge. The smoother finish
Mold Materials for Casting in the Kiln encourages the glass to slide down into the mold
without parts gripping along the mold sides
The following materials can be used and require no resulting in sharp spikes. Spray on a single quick
coating: coat, allow to dry for a few minutes, then spray on a
• ceramic fiber paper quick second coat. If you want to use boron nitride
• ceramic fiber blanket on a mold that had previously been coated with kiln
• plaster wash, take GREAT EFFORT to be certain ALL the
• plaster/silica investment mix kiln wash is scrubbed off before applying the boron
nitride. Any kiln wash left on can cause complete
The following materials can be used but must be failure and result in the glass sticking to the mold.
coated to prevent glass from sticking:
• ceramic
• steel Casting Material

As long as all the glass used is compatible, you can

Preparing the Mold with Kiln Wash use a variety of different materials for casting in a
kiln:
Carefully clean the mold to remove any dust and • frit
scrub out any remaining kiln wash from previous • scraps
firings. Single-use kiln wash like “Hotline” is • cullet
preferred to “Bullseye” because it’s easier to scrub • nuggets
out. Kiln wash can’t be trusted for a second firing • billets
after a full fuse so a fresh overcoat is needed. If
you keep applying overcoats, you will fill in all the
detail in the model. To avoid that, you have to
scrub out any kiln wash left from the firing and Filling the Mold
apply fresh. An old used toothbrush is an effective
tool for removing kiln wash but a bristle brush on a It’s important to put in enough material to be sure
Dremel or hand drill will speed up the job. the finished casting will be enough to fill the mold.
The glass level will drop as it melts into the mold.
Prepare the mold with 3 or more coats of thin kiln The smaller the pieces of glass you use, the less it
wash. More thin applications are better than a few will sink. On average, the finished casting will be
thick coatings. Be careful to not apply so much that about half the depth of the loose filled mold.

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 Glass Casting in a Kiln

Because the glass level drops, you might prefer to Fire Polish
fill part of the mold with large pieces of glass filled
vertically to provide enough glass to be sure the Casting in a mold will pick up some texture from the
mold finishes filled. mold leaving the glass that faced into the mold less
shiny than the glass facing out. That can be
corrected by turning the casting over and firing in
Frit and Powder the kiln to a fire polish:

Transparent glass powder and fine frit doesn’t

remain transparent when fired because the fine RAMP TEMP HOLD
pieces trap small air bubbles and produces a 1. 400°F (200°C) 1000°F (515°C) 20 min
slightly opaque look. Using larger pieces reduces 2. 1200°F (650°C) 1300°F (705°C) 4 min
the loss of transparency. 3. FULL 960°F (515°C) 60 min
4. 1200°F (650°C) 300°F (715°C) 0

Air Entrapment This firing schedule is for COE96 glass.

For COE 90 add 25°F to the top temperature.
Pieces of glass laid flat can easily trap bits of air. If
you instead place relatively large pieces of glass
vertically, any air will chimney up and out between
the pieces of glass as the glass melts from the Mold Materials for Pour Casting
bottom.
The most commonly used mold materials for pour
castings are brass, steel, and graphite. Graphite
Firing Schedule Casting and steel molds are very expensive and rarely used
for other than relatively high volume production.
RAMP TEMP HOLD Brass molds work extremely well and because
1. 800°F (425°C) 1460°F (795°C) 25 min brass melts at 1600°F (870°C) they can be made in
2. FULL 300°F (150°C) 0 your kiln or poured from a small torch heated
crucible.
This firing schedule is for COE96 glass.
For COE 90 add 25°F to the top temperature.
Pour Casting

Spikes Molten glass can be melted in a furnace then ladled

out or poured out into molds. Because there is no
It’s not uncommon to have spikes or a sharp edge concern with air bubbles getting trapped in the
along the rim of the casting when it comes out of glass, this usually produces a superior looking
the kiln. Using boron nitride instead of kiln wash casting. Glass can be melted down from batch,
will significantly reduce the amount of spiking that billets, nuggets, cullet, or scrap glass but the same
need to be ground off. need for compatibility applies as for kiln casting.

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 Glass Casting in a Kiln

Pressing a casting shape into sand

Pouring molten glass from a crucible into a mold

Sandcasting

This ancient glass casting method is still popular

and a fun way to do glass casting. Just make a
container to hold sand (a baking dish works well for
small projects), take whatever object you want
duplicated and press it into the sand to make an
imprint – then pour molten glass into the created Pouring into a sand mold
imprint.

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 Glass Casting in a Kiln

Types of Kilns Crucibles

Any kiln that can heat up a crucible of glass hot the crucible to be used to melt and pour glass must
enough to melt can be used for pour casting. A not only be a material that can withstand the high
front loading kiln makes it much easier to remove a temperature the glass is heated to but must also be
crucible full of molten glass but will a little ingenuity, resistant enough to thermal shock to not crack
it can be taken with tongs from any top loading when taken hot from the kiln or furnace. Ceramic
glass or pottery kiln. Many kiln makers produce clay fired to cone 10 (2350°F or 1288°C) can be
crucible kilns specifically intended to melt a crucible used for relatively small pours. For larger pours,
of glass to use for pour casting or to gather for some materials used include: alumina, boron
glass blowing. nitride, magnesia, quartz, silicon carbide, titanium
diboride, vitreous carbon, and zirconia.

Glass casting crucibles

Working Temperature

Soda lime glass melts at 2700°F (1480°C) but it

isn’t necessary to heat it that high to pour it. You
only have to heat it to the Transition Temperature
(the temperature at which if begins to flow). The
transition temperature varies slightly for different
COE (the higher the glass COE, the lower the
temperature). The transition temperature of soda
lime glass is above 1500°F (815°C). As glass
cools to that temperature, it begins to stiffen and
Crucible kiln becomes increasing difficult to pour. Thus, the
higher the temperature you heat the glass to, the
more time you will have to complete the pour
before the glass becomes too stiff to pour easily.
The hotter the better.
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