This week I learned that if my mom says she has energy to do [some stuff], and if I am at all interested in [some stuff], I really ought to take her up on the suggestion to do [some stuff] right away.
I missed my first opportunity to lure her into her studio, and the second opportunity came more than a whole day later, but that 2nd time she mentioned doing another firing, I jumped on the chance. Here’s what we made – a bunch of iridescent dichroic cabochons (which I will eventually set in assorted silver jewelry). The “before” is on the left, the “after on the right. Only one piece slid noticeably sideways during the firing, and then there’s that puzzling big piece in the middle of the front row that didn’t fire as thoroughly as the rest did. Some kilns have inconsistent heat patterns (usually related to insufficient/inconsistent insulation near a front-facing door to the kiln) but the way this kiln is set up, there is no front-facing door, just a lid, so… I’m guessing it didn’t reach as high an internal temp as the other pieces just because it was considerably BIGGER than all the others. The plan for that one is to cut it into chunks with a wet saw and fire-polish the edges, so the fact that it doesn’t have rounded edges is moot. I think it will still work.
