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PSA: I was wrong about quick cooling for small pieces
I always rushed my small glass items out of the kiln to save time. Thought since they were tiny, they didn't need long annealing. Kept finding hairline cracks in my pendants and beads. A fellow blower at a meetup showed me her setup, she soaks everything for at least an hour no matter the size. I tried it on my next batch of marbles, left them in the kiln for ninety minutes. They came out crystal clear with zero stress marks. Now I always give my pieces proper time to cool down slowly. It's made a huge difference in my success rate.
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the_cameron6mo ago
Totally! I rushed some small suncatchers last month and half had tiny cracks. Now I give even the little stuff a full hour soak and they come out perfect every time. It really is about the schedule, not just the size.
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amy_lopez806mo ago
Are you sure it's the cooling time and not just your glass thickness? I crank out tiny charms all day that cool in twenty minutes with zero cracks. My theory is people over-anneal when they use glass that's too thick for the project. If your marble is a solid inch thick, yeah it needs forever. But a thin pendant? That's just wasting kiln time and electricity.
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elizabeth_chen6mo ago
Glass thickness definitely plays a bigger role than some think. My cousin makes jewelry and she always measures her pieces before firing. She says even a millimeter extra can mean waiting hours longer. People probably don't realize how thin their glass should be for quick projects, right?
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