I am planning to make sodium/potassium silicate through the furnace
route in a crucible furnace. I am unfamilar with precautions
necessary for very high flux mixtures as opposed to regular soda
glass.

Will alkali "fumes" hurt my kiln. Will molten alkali destroy a
regular glass crucible? I have easy access to a small electric
ceramics kiln (in my backyard), and also to a large gas crucible
furnace built for metal casting (acquaintance's back yard).

For my first attempt I plan to use sodium hydroxide and glass powder
and fuse them at only 600-700C for 3-6 hours. The mix will be about
equal weights sodium hydroxide and glass powder. I would then pour
that molten mixture into Ice water and crush the powder in order to
dissolve it.


Does anyone have any experience or learning regarding this?