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How hot is it?
The furnace is usually set to 2125 F, although we boost it to 2400 F when melting new glass. The gloryholes are typically run around 2200 F. The glass is workable above 1300 F, of course the hotter it is, the more easily it can be worked. At 2125 F, its about the consistency of honey, maybe a bit more viscous.
How long does it take to cool?
Usually overnight, the glass needs to be cooled gradually, otherwise stresses and cracks will develop. The thicker the work, the longer the glass needs to cool. This process is called 'annealing'. Venetian style goblets need only about 8 hours to cool down, thicker tumblers require longer and paperweights and other solid work can take considerably longer. We've set up a program for our annealers that accomodates the majority of work made at the shop. 900 F for 2 hours, then 5 hours to ramp to 700, then the oven is allowed to cool off at its own rate. With this program, we can take work out the afternoon after the work is completed.
Where do you get the color?
We only melt clear glass in the furnace. We buy colored glass and melt it into the piece to add color. The colored glass is available in every color you can think of, and in many different sizes for different types of applications. The color comes in bars, powders and different sized pebbles (frits). It gets its color from metal oxides that are added to the glass when it is made, different metals in different proportions yield different colors. For this reason, there is also a huge difference in the cost of different colors. Pinks and purples are made from gold oxide and are more expensive than most of the others.
Where do you get the glass?
We buy our glass from Spruce Pine, North Carolina. It comes in 50 lb bags delivered 2000 lbs at a time about once every month and a half. The glass we get is called 'batch' and is a clumpy white powder, composed of the various chemicals that make up the glass. Alternatively, some studios use 'cullet' which is already melted into glass, and then remelted before it can be used.