Been off my game

I haven't done any crafting lately because we have been letting a friend stay in my craft room. I started a pot melt project tonight I hope I don't cook her out of her room. It does get kinda warm when I melt glass. 

I'm doing a pot melt. I've got some glass that is just being wasted because it didn't do what I wanted it to when I first slumped it. Now I'm melting it in a terracotta pot and on to some thin fire paper. It should turn out to be sort of a rectangle of melted glass. People do pot melts to mix beautiful colors and create lovely effects. I would like to do that, but I'm still just trying things out so I'm not going to waste good glass on the project.

I didn't take any pictures. I didn't think anything I did was picture worthy. First thing I did was cut my glass into smaller pieces. Next I loaded them up in my terracotta pot and put the pot on three kiln posts to lift it above my kiln shelf. I set the kiln at the levels that were recommended and hit start. 

About forty minutes into the project I realized that my set up wouldn't work for a pot melt and I went in to change it. I put on my heat resistant glove and laid the kiln posts on their sides and put the pot back on. I next realized that there was a chance that the glass would stick to the kiln post so I put some thin fire paper on top of them. Now I think the thin fire paper is too close to the pot, but I also learned that my kiln is at a level where my heat resistant gloves don't work so well. They work, I would hate to feel the heat from the pot without the glove, but it was warm enough that I'm going to leave well enough alone.

We'll see what happens, this guy is going to learn to fly or hit the ground. 

Jump Drive Jewelry

So not quite a month, but I did let a long time go between posts.

I'm sorry about that. I spent two weeks of that time being crazy so the only crafting I was able to do was under the direct supervision of a rec therapist. Yay! I did make a cute frog out of clay.

The rec therapist thought it was so cute, she asked me to make another one so she could have one, too. She tried to make her own, but she kept messing up the mouth.

So when I got out I was inspired to make some more clay art. I got out my clay and got to work.
This first one is for the dork in all of us:

 I want to make it into a keyring, but I'm not sure enough of it's durability. I wouldn't want to sell something that was going to break. So it might become a pin, or a pendant.

The next three are special, I made them to house small jump drives. They are all necklaces so you can wear your data where ever you go. I don't know, I think it is a good concept. I hope other people will like it, too

 

I got busy with my glass again today. I set the Coke bottles aside, I'm going to have to decide what to do with their ruined remains and I'm going to have to look into how I don't get the paint to burn off. I think a lower heat or changing the soak times would work, but I'm not sure. 

We got a heat gun and I was excited to try it on my labels. I had read that that was the best way to get them off. It worked great, except that it left an gluey film behind. I tried all the home remedies I could, nail polish remover, alcohol, cooking oil, lotion, re-heating the glue and scraping it off while it was hot.... Yeah, they were all failures. So I got some adhesive remover. Rubbed a little bit on the bottle, waited 30 seconds, and wiped it off with a paper towel. I came off right away. It did leave an oily film that I had to wash with soapy water, but all in all I think it took less than 6 minutes for the labels to be completely removed. And it will go faster when I figure out a system.

For now I'm just going to lumber along.

The cutting of the bottle I was using for my project cut very well at first, better than all the other cuts I made, but while I was using my tool to cut another line on the bottom the glass broke of two smaller pieces. I wasn't able to cut the bottom into the size I wanted, so I won't be getting a square with the bottle, but it should be interesting.

I think I over crowded the kiln:

 I'm afraid the glass might melt together, but that will give me an interesting outcome to use my imagination to make useful. I've got a stack of slumped glass that is just waiting for a second chance. That's the good thing about working with recycled glass, you can always try again and see what comes out next.

Those are all the products I used and I would highly recommend them.

It is better than it has been

So my bottle is all slumpy.

It has some air bubbles, there are air bubbles, I've found sites that give me ideas of how to reduce the chance of getting air bubbles, but I think that the glass marble might have been some of the problem.

 

The thing I have now is that I don't have the imagination to envision what to do with it next. The marble is raised some, but flattened on the bottom. It is interesting. But it's just a flattened bottle. Do I want to make it a spoon rest? Do I want to make it a wind chime? 

I guess it is going to sit on a shelf while I make up my mind. It might have a few problem areas, but I think it deserves better than that.

Last try for now, moving on to easier things.

So I'm getting closer I think.

 I did the four baby food jars and they didn't slump completely flat, they had the raised curved edge I'm looking for, but the way they slumped was all chaotic.

I'm not sure if it is because I'm using too much glass or what. The tutorials I've looked at showed me a nice even rounded shape when they did the slumping, but they were using the necks of bottles not baby food jars.

So I'm going to take a break from trying to slump glass. I've got a bottle cutter coming to me soon, and that will make it easier to cut the bottles with a smooth edge. I'll go back to glass work when that comes.

Right now I'm focusing on getting into making objects to sell at the boutique on Monday.
Yikes, its on Monday. I've got to get busy this weekend. I've got some jewelry made, I'm making some coasters.
The coasters are going great. I've gotten most of my supplies at the dollar store so I'm going to be able to make them for very cheap. I got 24 tiles so I can make 6 sets of 4 coasters. On Etsy at least they are selling for a good profit.

Project one done, now on to #2

Grrrr.

Well I knew that the project wasn't going to turn out, but it didn't turn out as badly as I thought it would.

Still not usable, but not without some learning value.
I definitely know that I let the glass soak too long, because I had the rounded curve I was looking for on two sides of the baby food container.

If I hadn't let it soak quite as long, maybe the rest of it would have stayed up.

I also learned not to mix projects where you want different results. Did I already say that? I wanted a full on flat fuse with the classic bottle, and I wanted a rolled, rounded look for the baby food jars. There was no way I was going to get both at the same time, warm glass just doesn't work that way.
Oh, and yes, I did already say something similar.
So I'm trying with four baby food jars now.

As you can see I didn't do anything to them except take off the labels. I didn't embellish them or anything.

 I'm using a contour fuse for my firing schedule. I'll post the schedule if the results turn out.
Oh and sorry for any formatting issues Blogger is being weird and I'm not in the mood to try and figure it out.

Project one (With a hind of insomnia)

So I couldn't sleep last night. Is this what manic feels like? So I decided to be useful and work on a glass project. I had cleaning the bottles, scoring the bottles, and slumping the bottles.

I won't know until the firing cycle is over if the slumping portion worked out, but as for the cleaning and scoring, I didn't do well for my first time.

 There are plenty of websites that go over ways you can score a bottle, the method I chose for my first time wasn't an efficient method so I won't go over it in the notes.

I added some embellishments an 18k gold surround to the baby bottle, the plan is that is going to be a candle holder, and a bronze star to the bigger bottle, I don't have a plan for what that is going to be; I'm just trying things out.

I'll post pics good or bad. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm not sure about my slumping schedule, there are lots of different ones on the net, I'll just keep trying until I find one that works. That is if it doesn't work the first time :-)

 I have five cycles for my firing schedule. The kiln automatically goes through the cycles. I don't have to watch it or anything, it is just set and go. (I practically stole this kiln when I bought it for $25.)

Wow, that was hard work

I organized my craft room. It was hard work and it took me a long time.
I wish I had taken before pictures so you can see the chaos that it was, but here are some after pictures.

My craft space. Small but functional.

My Yudu all set up and ready to print and my toaster oven ready to cure resin.

My glass crafting space.

Lampworking and scrapbooking.

My Yourstory, glass grinder, and Pazzles


 The other third of the room is Ron's area and it still needs work to be organized. But happily I can get to work and start crafting again.