Never laugh first
July 11, 2008 by cynthia
As I mentioned, I successfully fired an overabused mold that, by rights, should have come apart in the kiln. Lots of complex stuff going on in the model that made it a challenging firing to begin with. Then it was fired to near-crumbling when my kiln broke, I jostled it all over a bumpy road getting to the loaner kiln, etc., etc…
Fired beautifully despite all that.
So I smugly loaded Bob’s kiln with the three pate de verre molds I made at the Museum of Contemporary Craft demo. These had never been fired, they were simple, smooth and symmetrical bowl forms, just about the easiest thing you could do. Aside from bouncing around in a padded box in the car all over Portland, the molds had been treated with kid gloves.
Took them out of Bob’s kiln tonight and all three were split open. What’s more, they cracked on the way up in a very conservative firing schedule. The glass had flowed out of the cracks (although thank heavens it hadn’t gotten onto the kiln). I have my suspicions about why that happened, and maybe I should have foreseen it, but still..the irony is a tad much at the moment.
Sigh. I guess you only get lucky once, and then the kilngods call in their markers. If *I* had to choose between losing three demo bowls or a sculpture, the bowls would be history.
Nice to know the kilngods and I share the same tastes, anyway.
Related posts:
- Lost in Castuary So it’s back to Castuary, that odd period where life...
- Demo de verre Wow. THAT was fun. Spent the afternoon demonstrating pate de...
- Unspeakable I need to get me some new cusswords. The old...
- Skutt pulls the thorn (kiln update) It makes sense, but I'm having trouble believing it: My...
- Glassists, and all that You know what I love about the glass community? They’re...
So Cynthia, are you trying to outdo my 6 in a row kiln goddess not happy , or what. The Challenge is on!!!!! OR MAYBE NOT I bet you are saying aloud now. I can see that head turning slightly to the right with the crooked smile and the “I Don’t Think So ” look challenging back. No really, may your luck change big time and may your kiln builder HURRY UP . UGHGHGH !!!!! Can you put a fire unde him. Les
I’m doing enough goofy experimental things with this kiln that I’ll be lucky to see it in September, I think. But boy, will it ever be a great casting kiln when we get done with it!