Besides me, I mean. Today is fire-up-the-new-big-kiln day. Yikes! It's out there doing its thing--ramping up, holding, ramping some more, holding some more, and soon will begin the cooling, annealing, and cooling some more phases.
Why am I nervous? Glad you asked. This is my first really big kiln, my first fusing projects, and the first time I've run a kiln at 1450 degrees. I'm just SURE it will be fine, but I keep checking it every 20 minutes or so. Fire extinguishers are at the ready. (Oh PLEASE don't make me use one.)
Now you're probably wondering when you'll see the product of my glass cutting and melting. Of course, I COULD show you my nicely bandaged fingers (from cutting the glass...or more accurately, the glass cutting me), but that would be boring. So, you probably won't see anything really soon. Today, I'm firing experimental pieces. I love to see what glass would do IF....
Also, one piece is a small bowl which will need to be fired a second time to "slump" into a mold. I really don't expect anything lovely coming out of my early experiments, so you shouldn't either. I will say, however, that those who have seen my bowl from my class (see HOME page) have been just astonished. They think it's really wonderful. I do too, of course. (Chuckle.)
Well, back to the kiln watch.