Post by @JamesAkers@expressional.social

2026-09-15 01:28 UTC

Wowza! The nickel, sulfur #brown color pot was amazing! I believe Mike nailed the density I was looking for even with just one dip of #glass sandwiched between two clear dips of glass, its dense enough where the tube looks black without a phosphor backing or light shining through it. The personal dark color pot is also amazing for recycling- I could throw my bits of color in the crack off bin (shedding off the cooling blowpipes) back in the furnace before dinner to have fully melted, streaky swirly glass after dinner! I saved most of the dense brown glass cleaning out the pot at the end of the night as color bars- the typical way we buy it I have another 50 pounds of #color base- and well over a hundred, 5 foot tubes. The lighter tan color tubes have silver in them. Mike mentioned silver nitrate may be needed for those. I wonder how much I would need for 50 pounds and if it would be safe to melt? I pulled a flawless 50 footer today! #residency #neon #tube #Brooklyn #art #sculpture

Replies (1)

@JamesAkers@expressional.social 2026-09-26 03:34

It is happening again! This weekend I have the color furnace rented- and everything was in place to pull tubes- but all of the metal oxides I ordered to tint the glass were still in the mail. Mike could help with all the metal oxides I needed except for the silver nitrate. I called around- got in touch with some wet plate photographers before I paid about double what I already paid to get the silver nitrate- but I was able to avoid shipping entirely by taking the train. We will be mixing a silver and tin and zinc color that I think will be strange, reactive, and beige, and a smaller, 10 pound amount of a manganese, cobalt purple that could potentially go brownish if kept at annealing temperatures too long. So far, the furnace is heading up to temperature so that by tomorrow, Mike and I can meet in the morning, and we can send it up, so that by the time the colors are mixed, the furnace is at charging temp. I plan to charge all day tomorrow. #residency #glass #color #furnace #nyc

Open ##4862662