My kiln is here!

Yes! And here is the glorious thing:



I have been running the prefiring program today. It's not quite done yet, and it shows a beautiful glow from the beaddoor that is slightly ajar to let out the fumes.
It has been running for 4½ hours, and even with an empty kiln I can sympathise with all the stories I have heard of beadmakers opening the kiln too early :)
I got the kiln at Uterm in Sweden. I finally ordered it and 2 weeks later it was ready. Then 1 week for the payment to pass the banking system, one week in transit and now it is here :) Yay! I have great plans :)
It says on their website, that kilns are build to size, so I asked for a deeper version of their BA-2. I now have an inner area of 30x30cm (1'x1') and it is huge! I have all kinds of posibilities open to me :)
I completely forgot to ask if I could get a kilnshelf and a mandrel rack for it, so I guess I'll need that before I get too busy. I might not be able to contain myself though. I may have to fire it up tomorrow already as my parents have requested the presence of their grandchildren. Score! I'll have several childfree hours tomorrow.

More pictures!







Glorious!
P~

An update ...

is in order I think.

Sadly it seems the summer is getting ready to turn into fall around here, not quite there yet, but I feel it coming. We could all use a bit more sun before starting to wear sweaters again. But we had a nice couple of weeks off from the ratrace and that will have to suffice until the christmas holiday.

The grown-ups are back at work, the kids are back at school. Well, one is back but a grade up, one has just had her first week of school, and one has upgraded from baby-daycare to kindergarten. It is all very exciting, with new experiences, new people and new friends all around.

Personally I have a lot going on too. During the summer I have been thinking a lot, planning, thinking some more ... I basically know what I want to do, and it is 'simply' a matter of acting on it, which of course is never as simple as it sounds.
I have begun by ordering new glass, tools and finally last friday - my kiln! Yes, I did it, and it will be lovely. I am having it custom made, to fit the plans that are still in my head. It is very exciting I can tell you :)
And - I have aplied to become a proper business! Today I got my CVR-number, and that too is VERY exciting. I am hoping it will send me flying on pure upbeat energy, throughout and beyond the winter.

Anybody else feeling the winter? Or better yet, feeling excited about the future?

P~

What's Cooking?

Well, after discovering this lovely Lady, Vickie Hallmark, and her fabulous pods, I have been all hopping with ideas of electroforming. Even if I don't see me getting the equipment in the near future (probably not this year), it is very exciting all the same, and I am writing and sketching so I will remember later.
I did get to the torch this weekend, and I made these somewhat podlike things:



Now the thing is - there were 2 more, but they broke on the mandrel. The black one broke right after taking this picture, and the green one is cracked in so many places it's not even funny. This means I have 3 measly beads to show after 2½ hours of torching, and I really don't see how that can ever turn into even a selfsustained hobby, much less a business with a profit.
I do realize that had I had a kiln they might not have broken, with practice I might have been faster, and with a plan before I sit down I might be faster too (I think I need a Colour Book). But still ....
And about the kiln, it seems any kiln I can find will be needing more amps than we have for the whole house at this time. Which means not only do I need to invest in a kiln, but I also need to get extra powerlines into the house to get it to fire in the first place. So I have been ignoring the whole kiln issue, after getting a good start a few weeks back.
I am up and down all at the same time o_O

Mostly up though, I am good at ignoring things. And I have made an order for more glass (this time from Holland again) which is a definate up'er :) The owner told me that postage was the same no matter the size of the order, so I got a lot! 20 colours = 2,5 kg (well it's a lot for me. I can't compete with the 30 pound orders I have heard of, don't want to either :) ) I also got the new Japanese annealing bubbles, so I am hoping for less cracks already. Now I am looking for a nice storage system, since having rods laying in layers on the table is bad, bad feng shui.

This week will be busy though so I may not get a lot of (any) things done. My baby's birthday is tomorrow, she'll be 2. The house is a disaster and needs to be cleaned up tonight before company arrives tomorrow for dinner. We have also yet to get her a present or two. It's amazing how these things sneak up on us time and again. Saturday we go on a boat trip with the workplace people, and the kids sleep over at my parents house. Then sunday we'll have them over for lunch is the plan so far ... it may not seem like a lot, but I'm tired allready.

P~