Studio Clean up Wakes the Fusing Bug in Me.

I have been trying for some time to get my small studio organized. No easy feat...I am trying to get 3 rooms full of stuff into one. You may remember awhile back that my hubby had built a closet organizer for me. I have gotten things fairly well organized except for a few boxes of odds and ends.

This is the day I decide I'm going to take care of some of it.

So I grab a box and open it. It is filled with little boxes. The boxes are full of fused glass cabochons I never finished, mishaps, failed experiments and a good-sized box of dichroic glass scraps.

Ok, I grab the box of unfinished cabs, set up my grinder and start grinding. I spend enough time at the grinder to have 2 full trays of cabs ready to be fired. I put the first tray in the kiln and turn it on. So far so good.

While my kiln is cooking away I grab the box of failed experiments and look at everyone. All still good ideas, if I could just get them to work. Well, enough of that.

My kiln is now up to temperature…my pieces look good…time to cool.

I grab another small box and open it. Cool! A bunch of dichroic glass strips I had fused between layers of clear for the torch. Wait a minute! I pick up the box of failed experiments and pull out a failed dichroic pot melt. They either ashed out from the high heat or didn’t have enough dichroic in them for me. But, these fused strips might hold up to the heat.

So, I set up my clay flowerpots and fill them with the strips.

Meanwhile my kiln has cooled. I take out my finished cabs…nice!

Forget the second tray for now, let’s fire the pot melt!

I get the kiln loaded and turn it on. Wow! Look at the time, I better get dinner started.

I get the chicken ready and throw it in the oven. I decide I can make instant mashed and a can of corn to go with it…in a bit. Ok, back to the studio.

The pot melt is almost done; one of the pots is already empty...time to cool. The piece is going to take a few hours to cool…they’re pretty thick.

So, I head back to the kitchen and finish dinner and we all sit down to eat. I put dinner away and straighten the kitchen. I sit down with the family and we watch a little T.V together. My hubby goes to bed and I hop on the computer. Finally around midnight, my pot melt is cool. I think it looks pretty good. Now I just need to cut them up for pendants and refuse them.

Here are the cabochons I finished



Pot melt with pot sitting on a string of glass.

I am nowhere’s near finished with that box of forgotten goodies. But what a great start!

I will keep you posted on the pot melt experiment!
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