So Mincot and I melted some glass yesterday after Thanksgiving dinner.? Mostly we got into the Moretti and Vetrofond — you know, the soft stuff.? Of course I kept trying to lose it off the mandrel, and kept having to tell myself “waft it, don’t just slam it into the flame” and “easy, easy, don’t let it get away from you.”? But it was a nice change because it was a chance to play with some different press shapes (Min’s Zulu and Kalera trios, plus finally trying out my ginormous Kalera XL), to get a raku lesson, to create little wired-up leaves, and to just crank out some plain ol’ pressed beads.? Now I know why I haven’t had much success with raku in the past.? I’ve been OVERcooking it!? Apparently I’ve taken the term “cook the snot out of it” a bit too far.? I took it a little easier yesterday, and my two raku beads showed up with some very nice color when I pulled them out of the kiln today.
On the other hand, we DID melt a bit of boro also.? I wanted to try Paula McDonough’s stone pendant tutorial from Lampwork Etc., though not with her colors.? Min wanted to at least try a boro bead and see how the glass melts.? So I did a pendant with Paula’s Sedona Sunrise frit on a Coral Blush base, while she did a basic round bead with Aurora frit on Turquesa and encased.? I am very happy with how the pendant turned out, and I think I need to make a few more for the GPC show!
Mincot was so tickled with her boro bead that today, when we met up with Dee over at FlameTree Glass, she begged Lance and Maureen to sell her some of their boro shorts to play with, along with a bit of clear.? Hmmm.? That’s just about the same way I got started…
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