Things to do while you're waiting for a call

I got slightly diverted this morning so no chance to do any baking. Here's what I decided to do instead...

 

Glassblowing - Some Quick Photos

 

A Holder for the Shattered Marbles

After making a number of shattered marbles with my daughter, she wondered what we might do with them next...

This was what I came up with... ...she's not very impressed...

Large Bowl

I've finally managed to finish the assembly of the large bowl. The size of this piece made soldering a challenge, but I made a breakthrough last night and here is the result....

Now the finishing process begins....

Kiln - Some Experiments

Finally got around to playing with the kiln again this weekend and here are the results.

The first experiment was to see if I could fill a silver frame with some transparent enamel. I decided on the following frame shape which I cut from an offcut of silver left over from another piece;

 

I'm not sure if the shape is more leaf like or if I'm trying to go for a flame motif in keeping with the kiln...

I then made up an enamel paste and filled the space, placing it on a wire support to go into the kiln. this, admittedly after a couple of attempts is what I've ended up with;

Unfortunately a couple of small specks of what I think is firestain got into the enamel just as I was taking it out of the kiln, but I actually quite like the effect...

Anyway...my daughter has taken quite a bit of interest in the kiln and has been looking for an excuse to use it. She came across this clip on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddk_YaNXhfc

and we decided that we'd like to have a go at making 'Shattered' Marbles as well.

Here are our results;

 

 

Kiln

One of the perils of the internet is that it allows you to make impulse purchases at the press of a mouse key...
...so that's how I ended up with this...my new kiln which arrived this week.

Today, I tried it out for the first time;

As it gets rather warm, I've set it up on firebricks both as protection and to stop it from moving around on the surface.

This shot shows it just after I took out my first experiment in enameling. Keeping it simple I put a thin layer of green enamel onto an offcut of silver. And here it is;

Not very impressive I suspect to you guys, but I'm rather pleased with it. Now the experiments in enameling can begin in earnest... :)

Piece in a Day Pt 2

Coffee break over, the following photos are of the piece with a preliminary finish and polish.

I think this means that I've 'technically' finished the piece in a day. However, I'm sure I'll keep fiddling with the finish over the next couple of days.....