wall pockets

I did flash the lid with the last firing, and, apart for scorching the cloth I was holding, it went okay and the devitrification (which could have happened on the wine bottles and glasses) didn't really happen -- although they were a bit cloudy looking rather than shiny clear. The yard sale green bottle that I turned into a wall pocket stayed shiny and is really a beauty!


Turns out 1465 is still a bit on the hot side -- not too far from what I wanted but definitely some sharp edges on the system 96 from dragging (e.g. see the wall pocket with the four "dots" -- all system 96 with silver inclusions that stayed lovely) the dots are actually cabs fully fused into the clear -- looks good but I had hoped for a tiny bit of raised textures. It was a great temperature for my scrap melt though (also shown -- lots of clear little bits with a few stringers thrown in).

And the fiber felt in most of the wall pockets was difficult to remove -- 3 layers was much easier than two and of course "deeper pockets" were hard to get at. Helps me plan my future designs.

Here's the new cycle...

6-segment
............rate /hour .......degrees.............hold
1.............750.............1000 .............10
2. .............500 .............1430.............
3 as fast as possible....1000 ............. 10
4..............250 .............950 .............40 (annealing)
5..............150 .............800 ............. 0
6. .............350 ............. 300 ............. again probably about 7 hours total

Here's a picture of one of the pieces ready to fire:







I've also loaded up the kiln with all kinds of tiny blobs left from Amy's torching strips -- pastel colours with a strip of black stringer on the top. These will be my new "cabs" to add as decoration to the next batch of wall pockets. Right now wall pockets seem the perfect size for me. I long for huge platters but just don't feel quite ready yet!