Having enjoyed our glass fusing course, we have bought a kiln. This is it, sitting on its homemade stand, made from the wooden pallet used to deliver glass.
So far we have tried some fusing, bottle slumping, bead making and bubble making with baking soda. Results have, on the whole, been quite interesting. Only the bubble making has proved a little problematic. I clearly used too much baking soda, resulting in massive exploding glass bubbles, rather than the desired small trace bubbles. All good fun.
Some before and after pictures:
Before firing: After: Close up of exploding bubbles:
The green plate above is going to be my first slumped bowl. This is how it looks at the moment, after the initial firing from above.
It is now sitting in its slumping mould. It is all a bit experimental. I have made the mould from vermiculite sheeting, carved into shape using my woodcarving chisels.
Come back tomorrow to see whether or not it becomes a bowl after firing tonight, or alternatively a new style of molten glass lump stuck to a sheet of vermiculite. Fingers crossed.