Kiln Disaster Koolness

This is a photo of one of the blobs from the kiln meltdown that has evidence of coolness. You can see that, had my beads survived the swelter, they would have been gorgeously groovy! See the iridescence from the DSP, and the colors from the Luna2? Ok joking... I have a strange sense of humor :)

Khaos in the Kiln!

Khaos strikes! (lampworker pun....)
What a greeting I received yesterday when I opened my kiln.... my lovely Khaos beads! :( I made these on Mother's Day, too!

Yes, those are puddles of glass.

It's either the relay or the thermocouple. My handyman boyfriend checked the relay and the contacts were all corroded... after just one year of use. Which I guess is normal for the amount I use my kiln. He switched it over to the new contacts and I'm going to test out the kiln today. I'm also ordering a new thermocouple... can't hurt to have a few on hand.

The scary thing is that this happened overnight. I'm also going to buy a special second thermocouple that will shut down the kiln if the temperature gets too high.

And those Khaos and Dark Silver Plum beads were sooooo nice!

Obstacles: The Learning Opportunity

This past week I've been consumed with finding new equipment for my studio. I'm still working on getting a new digital camera and new parts for the kiln controller. So, still no beadmaking... instead I've been engrossed in technical manuals and on-line product searches.

In the meantime I've borrowed my daughter's digital camera to photograph my beads. She's out of town on vacation for three weeks, but just so happened to forget her digital camera in the car before she boarded the plane. Bad luck for her... good luck for me! :) She's so generous and loves Mom so much, she's letting me use it for a few days and then I'm going to mail it to her.

All was dandy for a day while I used her camera, until one of my three professional photoflood bulbs burnt out! They can literally last for years with occasional use, but mine had to choose this week to go. And I didn't have a back-up bulb. Hah!

I crumpled into depression for an hour, then decided I'd try taking a photo in lower light using only my two remaining bulbs. You know, I actually liked the results! In fact, I think I'll use two bulbs from now on.

The things we learn from adversity, wow!

Here's an example of a photo taken with my daughter's camera (Sony Cyber-shot 7.2MP) and two photoflood bulbs. The bead is for sale in my Etsy shop:


I really like the Sony Cyber-shot after having the opportunity to use it. It's gotten great reviews. I've ordered one for myself, along with four new photoflood bulbs!

Have a great day everyone!

Too bad, so sad!

Yesterday I had both my kiln and my digital camera conk out on me. At first my kiln died, so I went to get my handyman sweetheart to fix it. He'd done such a great job changing out the relay in the controller a few months ago.

As he was taking out parts and changing around wires, I decided to take a picture of him in action. When I went to take the picture, the LCD view screen on the back of my camera was black. I could still take a picture, but I couldn't see what I was taking a picture of! Unless I used the viewfinder, which is practically useless on a point-and-shoot anyway.

After getting some wires and parts fixed up on the controller (obviously I have no idea about this kind of stuff), he went to plug it back in and give it a try. Out went all the lights. I did know that was not a good sign!

I'm going to need a new controller for my kiln, and a new digital camera. If any of you are astrology buffs, you can lament with me about Mercury retrograde. Of course the positive side is that I get new tools for my business and soon I'll be back and brighter than ever. Another positive aspect is that I will be spending more time blogging and working on my website. I still have plenty of photos to work on and upload.

Here is a photo of my Toaster kiln made by Brian Kirkvliet and the Paragon controller (which is the small box on the left).



I'm sure that grand things are on the horizon. Have a great day everyone!

Multi-tasking

It's a beautiful day here in Sedona, and I've been doing a variety of bead-related things such packing and shipping, cleaning beads, photographing, photoshopping, working on my website and posting to my Etsy store. Doing all the many important aspects of the bead business except the really fun part -- making the beads!

Yesterday, however, I did get some bead time in and I've been working on another set. It's based on a set I've done before called Spring Rain. I'll post a picture of them here. I'm also waiting by the mailbox for my Terra glass to arrive from Double Helix!