how much fun is this!??!?!

We kept the kiln going on a daily basis for pretty much all of December because people seem to really like what we're creating!

And we have new sources of bottles and new outlets to sell things in and just lots of ideas to keep us as busy as we want to be.

And I have found that once a bottle is flat it can consistently be refired for texture or reshaping as long as the schedule is very slow. Before I learned this it was quite hit-and-miss. Now a lot more possibilities are opening up.

The latest experiments have been with hand-made plaster molds. Some of the smaller ones have been especially effective -- stuff like the plastic liner from a tin of cookies can be the basis of a really useful little mold. So a bottle can become a tea lite candle holder with "cookie-shaped" receptacles.

More to learn. And must post some more pictures soon.