Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Alone at Last

Coffee in the Alaska skyline mug, "Let It Be" by the Beatles on iTunes (and isn't THAT an irony), there were words being written in the screen melt project right up to the moment when I switched to the blog. I will get caught up today for sure. Yesterday's experiment with mica was wildly successful and I discovered a new technique in the process that I am looking forward to exploring more.

Just took a break to get J and D off to school and work and check the kilns. The checkers fired perfectly, the board is still too hot to look at. The last slump load for the new gallery in PA is done and will ship today. I just put three small castings in the little kiln and all I have left to do on the projects (if the checkerboard turned out) is redo the necklace, flip and firepolish the checkerboard, glue the mirror and hangers to the mirror frame, and put the hands back on the clock. Everything but the firings can be done tomorrow. I hope I don't have to redo the checkerboard. The only reason I would is a haze from the thinfire on the front (I fired it face down to keep sharp lines between the squares).

Today, after I finish all outstanding writing (and it is outstanding, if I do say so myself) I have to finish grinding the circles, wash and them all and sort them by size. Then it is time to begin fusing the back-up PopArt platter and plates sets for the catalog in New York. I had originally planned to start Monday, but it wasn't urgent so I let it slide in favor of supervising yard clean-up. I know a landscaper with a very good crew and she really likes my work so we are doing a trade. For my part, I now have over 40 bags of yard refuse on the curb waiting to be picked up and composted by the county (I don't compost anything with weed seeds in it as my pile isn't big enough to get hot enough to kill them), the beds are almost all mulched (13 cu yds wasn't enough... we have a big yard), and the lawn is trimmed back from the beds and mowed. *sigh* Life is good, even if it wasn't all about glass this week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, now we have the dirt on you...

Barbara Muth said...

Brenda, sandblast the face of the checkerboard before the firepolish. Then you won't get haze. Just take it up to 1300 or so for the firepolish and you should be fine.

Brenda Griffith said...

Thank you, thank you! I was holding a sandblast in reserve, but I hate to do anything on the projects that the reader might not be able to do.But this close to projec review I guess I don't have much choice!

And Bill, you have had the dirt on me for YEARS!