Tara Craig (u/taracraig)

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Lost another piece to stress cracks, now I'm stuck between slow oven drops and quick kiln shuts

I was working on a thick borosilicate paperweight, and it kept splitting right down the middle after it cooled. Some folks at the studio told me to let it anneal super slow, like dropping the kiln temp over ten hours to avoid internal stress. But others said that's overkill for boro, and you can shut the kiln off once it hits 900 degrees for a faster cool without cracks. I tried the long way first, which worked but ate up a whole day. When I rushed it, the piece made it sometimes but not always. I started pre-heating my kiln to exactly 1050 before putting the piece in, then did a slow drop to 900 before cutting power. That mix seems to do the trick for me now. So, which side are you on for keeping heavy pieces intact, the slow anneal crew or the quick cool camp?

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c/air-fryer-recipes•

taracraig•6mo ago

Remember when crispy chicken wings meant babysitting the oven for an hour?

Back in the day, making proper crispy wings involved preheating the oven, rotating trays, and a solid 45 minutes of waiting. You'd hover by the stove, hoping they didn't burn. Now, my air fryer gets them golden and perfect in under 20 minutes, no fuss. It's wild how much time I've saved for easy meals.

3 comments

c/found-without-algorithms•

taracraig•6mo ago

Update: Random web address opened a town history archive

I was trying to remember old websites and one brought up scanned newspapers from the 1920s. This archive doesn't show up in searches, so I came across it myself.

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Posts

Lost another piece to stress cracks, now I'm stuck between slow oven drops and quick kiln shuts

Remember when crispy chicken wings meant babysitting the oven for an hour?

Update: Random web address opened a town history archive

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