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Posted on March 10, 2017 by claytonhill

Another vit pull … and stuff

We tried a pink/purple pull this week.  Good results, I think!

pinks-purples-murrine

I’ve been restocking spoon rests – along with some new designs – 8 prepped for the kiln.  Also catching up on night lights [no photo], along with a couple of Easter bunnies … They are adorable and I had fun making them!

3-17-spoonrests bunny-night-lights

I’ve been tinkering with rearranging/organizing and cleaning the studio.  I finally utilized my coe90 sheet storage.  As a predominantly coe96 girl, I didn’t realize I had that much … DOH!

90-sheet-glass

Next up, making more patties/pendants to play with some of our murrini.  And, a few other project ideas …

Meanwhile, DH did it again … He decided to get Ceasar’s ears done.  Poor boy!  He is running into everything with that dumb satellite-antenna ring on his head!  He has mastered eating while wearing it, though!

poor-ceasar

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Posted on March 4, 2017 by claytonhill

Cleaning and …

CHOPPING!!!  Yay!  DH delivered my chopper to the studio today.  So, I had to interrupt my cleaning spree to start cutting up murrini.  OMGosh!  So easy and so awesome!!!  Thanks Babe!

CHS-chopper

tazWhile we were setting it up, little Miss Cowbell nabbed our sponge, and like the Tasmanian Devil that she is, had it well on its way to total destruction in less than 60 seconds … Grrr.

chloe-kills-sponge

It’s all good. [Chloe is fine!]  DH prepped a few more while I cut up our next two pulls!  And, now I need to start assembling a murrini project!  [Happy!!!]

next-two-pulls

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Posted on March 3, 2017 by claytonhill

Still Learning …

our-cane

We had another vitrigraph pull this week … We’ve got a nice variety of cane going – while we continue to learn what to do and what not to do!  Now, if SOMEONE would just finish making my cane-chopper!

fifth-pullour-murrini

sesame-seedsI played with a few recipes, too.  We made tahini – which gives our 25+ year old food processor a big work out!  [Wedding gift!]  We used the tahini for our first batch of hummus.  Yum!  THEN, this city girl cooked beets for the first time.  Wow!  I screamed a bit when I pulled the pan out of the oven and unwrapped them from their aluminum foil cocoons  – as the splatter/spray of red hit … creating a ‘crime scene’ look to my stove top and walls! Winking smile  But, I love the beet hummus we made!  Next up, I’ll be cooking eggplant to try my hand at Baba Ganoush!!! (Oh, yeah – DH is nervous!)  To keep the less-adventurous members of my family happy, I made a pot of Sausage Bean soup …

beets-chickpeas  sausage-bean-soup

Coming up:  I’m slowly gearing up to try a kiln-combing.  So, I bought ‘full arm’ leather/welding gloves.  Combined with my leather apron and DH’s face shield – I should be (kiln) safe and quite sexy!  [Don’t look for modeling photos any time soon!]

combing-gloves

WWU:  My elbow is still on the mend – she lets me know when I’ve pushed too hard, or I’ve reached the end of a 12 hour ER shift … My coworkers are taking it easy on me, letting me spend time in triage.  So, I’ll leave with this advice:  If you feel compelled to ask your triage nurse three (or more) times ‘if you should just go home’ [without being seen], maybe you should listen to your inner voice … [#whyareyouhere, #shortestERvisitever]

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Posted on February 24, 2017 by claytonhill

Studio update 2/24

We had our fourth vit pull last week.  I’m gaining some skills with ‘the stack’ and manipulating the temperatures … I’m hoping to try for some black/white/gray murrine next, maybe later today.

turq-murrinethe-stack

We are building a decent collection of cane ‘flower bouquets’ … More than I will ever need for my original interest/intent; probably enough for some small murrini bowls and definitely enough that I may need to consider alternative storage options … Winking smile

our-cane-collection

Meanwhile, I’ve assembled all of our recent cabs into pendants, and I’m slowly getting more photographed.  [I’ve added 72 new pendants to my ever-growing collection … Wow!]

20170223_175058 20170223_175616 20170223_1808461

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Posted on February 16, 2017 by claytonhill

Patiently learning …

DH made the vit pot for me, so we can use square glass in it, instead of cutting circles for clay pots.  Much easier to prep and load, but the stainless steel pot has it’s own learning curve.  Add to it, I still have a bunch to learn regarding my color choices for a vitrigraph cane pull!

muddy-cane   my-own-vit-pot

I thought I chose well (wisely?) – making certain I wasn’t mixing glasses that don’t playchose poorly well together (sulfur, lead or copper-bearing).  I thought a nice gray/red/white color palette would look wonderful.  I mixed in transparents and opals.  Then we took that metal pot (with that transparent red) to 1600 degrees.  And, I was less than pleased as we were pulling yard after yard of ‘MUD’ … Duhhhh!  “You chose poorly!”

vit-stack cane

We stopped the kiln after pulling down to muddy brown stringer, thinking we were close to empty … Nope.  This is what came out of the cooled down pot (- it’s about an inch thick).  Hmmm … Yep, lots to learn!

leftover-glass

So, I’ll pick my next stack of colors with a few more parameters added … and we’ll try again tomorrow.  In the meantime – Chloe loves belly rubs from DH (no, she really does!)!

DHnChloe

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Posted on February 9, 2017 by claytonhill

Learning patience …

Or trying to, anyway.  We’re waiting for some supplies to come in.  Like a crate of Bullseye glass (they had a sale – what can I say?) and some stainless steel sheeting.  [DH is going to make a vit speed pot for me!]  Then we can really play with the vitrigraph kiln.  So much so, that I’ve asked DH to create an easy break* (modified arbor press) for making quick work out of the murrini cane. I KNOW!!! Super exciting stuff.  But for now, we wait!   *Kind of like this one, but tweaked a wee bit.  Photo credit: hobbyglass.com

BE glass packstainless-steel-sheets-250x250chopper

Which is ok.  I’m getting cabochons cut and fire polished, pendants drilled/epoxied and assembled.  All while I’m trialing my bail findings to make sure they hold up to not-so-gentle daily wear (and they are!) …

cloud-cabs  fritrini-pendants-2-17

In between, we’re romping with our four-legged crew.  We also continue to teach Chloe some manners (who is napping here – with her tongue hanging out) … Manners are hard work!  Smile

cowbell-sleeping

WWU:  Made it through my first weekend back to work.  Volume wasn’t bad.  Acuity got a little nutty there when a very large patient had to be pulled out of a private vehicle, all blue and ‘over-dosey’ … But the elbow held up and after making me work for it, my pt was pink and sassy when I ended my shift!  So – my broken wing is healing, I just have to wait for it!!!

Next up – I think I’m just about ready to play with some pattern bars … oh my!

pattern-bar

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Posted on February 2, 2017 by claytonhill

Our 2nd Vit pull …

mary butternutAnd dinner.  First (and most important) – we made our favorite cold weather soup (Acorn squash soup)!  But this time, we used a butternut squash.  Yep – just one – cuz it was just that big (- and from my Mother-in-law’s abandoned garden … from November!)  It changed the flavor a bit – but nothing a touch of buttermilk and half-&-half couldn’t overcome!

 

And then I tried this recipe.  So easy, and so much better than I remember in my youth.  I went with the nutmeg (not sure that I’m a fan) and added some ground mustard.  I’ll play with it a bit – but it sure is promising!

20170201_193515

20170201_181224So, on to our 2nd vitrigraph kiln pull.  Much better consistency – once we elevated our clay pot and opened up the hole (both in the pot and in the kiln floor).  Here were my color choices:

 

And this is what we got … some 21 feet in cane.  Most of it (to my eye) in a camo-color … Not my first choice for an Object D’art … but a learning lesson, for sure!

20170202_021941

I officially head back to work in … 2 DAYS.  I’m excited.  No – really, I am.  Someone please remind me of that about 20 minutes after I get to work on Saturday.  (We’re in the middle of a renovation … Those TOTALLY stink when you’re trying to work through them!)

totally stinks

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Posted on January 31, 2017 by claytonhill

We Did It!!!

vit-set-upWe set our (4th) kiln up and had our first vitrigraph cane pull!  Yahoo!!! [So, yeah … it’s THAT kiln, the vitrigraph kiln … Which will forever be called ‘She Who Causes Broken Wing’ … I ❤ her!]

We still have a lot of fine tuning to do – but – I’m happy!  Definitely having issue with temperature control and flow from the pot (- according to the readings on the manual pyrometer, we were dancing between 1550-1725 degrees) … Our cane never did ‘pull’ as easy as the Bullseye video demo.  I’m thinking our crucible needs to have a larger opening … We’ll see.

first-vit-cane

And, while I had my stack all nice, layered and round within the pot – we didn’t have much luck with simple concentric cane.  But – I LOVE these colors!!!  And – DH can’t complain, cuz I didn’t spend any (additional) money for this experiment (… YET)!  HAHA!  Smile

pink-purple-murrine

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Posted on January 29, 2017 by claytonhill

He Just Showed Me Up …

Doggone it!  But – we’re starting to learn to make torched murrine up in here!  I’m definitely having issues with heat control.  But DH took to it like he has been lampworking all his life.  WTH?!?  

My pitiful attempts:

my-pitiful-pullsmy-murrini

And his …

DH-torchingDH-torch-pullDH-murrini

We’ll keep playing and figure this stuff out.  In the meantime, I’m also thinking vitrigraph-kiln-thoughts … UH-OH!!! Winking smile  I do have an extra kiln hanging around at the moment (purchased when I broke my arm!) …

vitrigraph-pull

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Posted on January 26, 2017 by claytonhill

So – the funny thing is …

no-oxygenIt turns out, you can’t play with your torch if your OXYGEN tank is empty … Nope!  Doesn’t matter how much of that glass glob you place into your ‘hottest flame’ … This is what you get … And now, I am waiting on my (new) O2 tank arrival(!);  Meanwhile murrini is on hold!!!

But – I love me a new saw blade!  Yep, the new Taurus 3 blade is slicing through tiles like butter!  Arrgghh – if I ever win the LOTTO … !!!!

            11-down   turquoise-cloud-tile

It took me a while, but I eventually had 29 cabs laid out … I have 19 cut & shaped tonight.  I’ll have one heck of a kiln load for ‘fire-polishing’ SOON!

cab-shapes

Meanwhile – DH and I are getting accustomed to Alexa.  I have the ‘Dot’ out here in the studio.  It’s neat and all, but … I’m not sure how I feel knowing some ‘smart-thing’ is listening to me ALL THE TIME … Like when I’m yelling at the glass for insubordination, or scolding my canine-kids for unauthorized accidents (poops)… ???

big-brother-listening

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