Serendipity

After the disaster of the soldering iron I decided to go back to something I did have the hang on (plus the fact I need to go out and buy a new soldering iron tip and haven't had chance to yet.

( photos behind the cut )

In other glass fusing news I've had my first commissions. His Lordship's aunty wants me to make her six pendants in blues/purples/shiny to give as presents to people at work, so I'm going to make a start on those next week. (I'm going to book a day off work and get some cutting and firing done). And His Lordship's Grandma wants the copper star one above as her Christmas present from us.

(BTW, a fair few of you will be getting glass stuff for Christmas :D)

Saturday I had the house to myself and no reason to venture outside and interact with people, so I was up bright and early (no really, I was up at 6.50am) ready to load up the kiln and get it going.

( more playing with very hot molten glass behind the cut )

Look! He even responds to my title! Awesomesauce!!!

As some of you know, I've been playing at glass fusing for the last few months with a little microwave kiln and decided just after Christmas to ask people to donate towards a proper grown-up kiln for my birthday.

After doing *a lot* of research I decided on a kiln and I've been talking to a kiln-seller for the last few weeks. One thing led to another and I somehow ended up with £260 less in my bank account and a massive box waiting for me on my doorstep when I got in from work the other day. (Seriously the box was 70cm square!! The kiln's not much bigger than a sheet of A4 paper)

Of course, I needed to try it out to make sure it worked and that it hadn't been damaged in transit and that all the kiln walls were in good condition and that it actually, y'know, fuses glass so I cranked it up and set off on a test run.

( see my stupidly frivolous purchase behind the cut! )

So tonight was the beginning of Operation: Birthday with the first practice of my birthday cake.

( mmmmmmmmmmmm cake behind the cut )

Look at what I've been doing over the weekend!

Before Christmas I bought a microwave kiln so I could have a play at glass making without having to invest £500+ on a proper kiln. I finally got hold of a decent glass cutter and breaking pliers so I had at it this weekend.

( lots of pictures behind the cut )