Taking a Scrapbooking class at Class Act in Oshawa

On Saturday  May 14th  

http://www.classact.ca/store/p1421/Seaside_Serenity_Ablum_Workshop_Sat._May_14%2F16.html

taking the class to make this  beautiful album - called Seaside Serenity - I cant wait to play with stamps and paper again

Its a small album with multiple pages all with the same beautiful floral  theme 

they still have openings if anyone else interested - its 75.00   and you get the kit but you need to buy a few things  - not much really - so cant wait 

BK #4 - another load

Very happy with the kiln and feeling friendly with it now - easy to use Bartlett V6 controller - is marvelous compared to all the other controllers I've been using -

Highly recommend to Canadians the Tucker - Cone Art Kiln - well made (we bumped and pushed this baby up stairs - into a car and then into the studio  and it held up well)  repair to coils easy  - so very happy with my used purchase

Yes just more bottles for now but I think that will be it for a couple of weeks - want to work on some nice bowls  - or other items

the pile is really growing - hope to do more of those crystal holders soon

 -
I sat in front of my torch - and cleaned the area a bit - so I could end up there on the weekend too

will be off to the creative festival on Saturday - just to relax and enjoy some fun with my 6 year old grand daughter

BK (Big Kiln) run #3

the pile is growing 

med size crown royal - looks kinda blah - will need to do something with it 

I melted the handle kinda funky  but the enamel stayed on 

tonights load - two sizes of crown royal - a lava cloth and another brown jug with enamel on 

The Big Kiln ! 2nd run

Sundays Run - Turned out great as well - added more bottles this time

so the pile is growing 

I have a batch of bottles in - more fitted this time 

I think about 8 this time 

has a brown jug with enamel on - and a crown royal bottle to see how they turn out 

but I will be doing a set with the pattern ceramic this week as well 

putting it on at 6:30 pm the night before - means I get to open the following night 

I check on it to make sure its running ok and again in the morning 

getting used to it now so I can start to do some other things with it than bottles 

Tempered Glass test #2 - Crystal Candle holder

so the results of test # 2 (was 1/2 c A 1/2C B and just a little less than 1/4 c methyl hydrate )

turned out ok -  - I can see the tile at the bottom - the hole itself is pretty small  so

1.  still too much
2. a bit too thin
3. think I really need that 5 x 5 tile so the center is bigger

I NEED MORE TEMPERED GLASS

Looks like a big crystal 

can see the tile at bottom but opening is too small 

so once I get more tempered glass  the next test will be 

1/8 cup (two tablespoons) methyl hydrate 

1/4 cup part A

1/4 cup part B

but I want to find 5 x 5 tiles

Tempered Glass & Resin Candle results

The ice candle results were not 100% - but look pretty awesome

the awesome picture after I beat it up 

Too much epoxy - too thick epoxy  - it ran to bottom  and accumulated- too much  - and it seeped into near the base because it was too thick - you can see the fatish top edges where too much epoxy

but I beat it up and got a pretty nice result on the outside  - - its thicker the bottom but that wont stop me from putting a small glass and candle in the center

Today mix is less (did a full 2 cups yesterday ) today is only 1 cup in total and even that seems to be too much for one candle -  I did  1/2 cup of part A   1/2 cup part B and 1/4 (just under the rim ) of methyl hydrate - was a pretty thin mix

Poured 1/2 cup of the mixture onto the tile

when I finished pouring - I still had 1/2 cup left  - so will see if  1/2 cut thinner is too much as well - I think I may be heavy handed here thinking I need lots - but tomorrow we will see

so next batch for a single will be 1/4 cup of A  1/4 cup of B  and will see if the need to 1/2 the 1/4 cup of the methyl hydrate - will have to see how it ran

New Big Kiln Test Results !

100% EXCELLENT !!!!!
I could not stay up till midnight to look - was tired
so I got up early this morning  and checked

Making the Resin and Tempered broken Glass Ice Candles

Rick Silas has to be give credit here - with a way to rework broken tempered glass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrTwq8u83e8

Materials:
EX70 resins - 1:1 ratio - I got at Curry's Art Supplies -   I will sub with my own resins but wanted to follow the instructions as closely as I could for the prototypes
Methyl Hydrate (alcohol) for thinning - you want it a bit thinner to run down into the glass
SmallBucket - I got the 1/2 bucket at home depot
Lots of broken tempered glass - this took one bit tote /2 shoe box totes to fill the 1/2 bucket
Mixing stick - clean - dollar store wooden spoon - dollar store brush - (I prefer the wooden spoon)
Container to mix in -
table cover - poly plastic is good the epoxy wont stick to polyethylene -just in case
5 x5 tile - all I could find at HOme depot was  a 4-1/4 x 4-1/4  white tile for this project

single tote                                                   double tote (not quite full )                                                  

So very anxious - I had broken my glass during the week and put into the tote ( so as of now I have basically 3 shoe box size totes filled with broken tempered glass

I put into the pail and filled to just below the rim so that I was not overflowing (I still have to put in resin and I didnt want a mess)

So bucket is filled and pressed down and I bounced it a couple times for it all to settle

I brought it inside - as its too cold to pour outside (epoxy likes heat to cure ) Put the tile on top (ceramic shiny side down ) and pushed down on it so it was seated well on top of the broken glass

Now - from the video I cant tell how much he used for each candle - so its a guessing game

I want to make more than I need in this case  - as I'd rather have too much than too little

so I measured on a mason jar - 1 cup  of water and poured into the jar and marked it - then put another 1 cup in and marked it to show the 2 cup mark  - emptied the water and dried the jar

I poured the part A in first to 1cup mark - cleaned the spout and put the cap back on
I poured the part B in to the 2cup mark - cleaned the spout and put the cap back on
I poured about    1/4 cup - just a little less of the methy hydrate (this wil et me know how far it seeps down - if not far enough then I'll need maybe the full 1/4 cup next time

Mix - mix - mix

I tore a piece of cardboard from a box to use as spreader

Poured onto center of the tile and slowly pulled to all sides to seep down - poured more
till what I thought was enough - the guessing part

so now I can see what I have left - after the pour




will see how far it seeped - and gauge my next measure based on the results - so fingers crossed tomorrow I see something that looks like one of Rick's candle holders
and off to dollar store today for glass inserts for the candles

once its out I still have to seal the piece - and I may use some alcohol inks to color - will have to see

but what does not stick or covered in resin can be resued on the next candle - which means I should have enough for a 2nd candle ! tomorrow

Test run on new kiln - its on !

I was up early 5:30 - could not stay in bed 1 minute longer - its only 32 degrees out  but thats not bad and we expect it to go over 65 today

I prepped the kiln

put down a sheet of thick fiber paper - I think its the 1/8 - I have a big roll and I like it better as I can get so many firings out of one sheet

 so I set up only three bottles -  one on either side and one in the middle - to check for hot spots
I probably could have done more but for now this will do - its more I want to be sure it fires ok

the middle has a piece of lava cloth under it for texture on the clear bottle  and the side bottles are just plain

I put small pieces of fiber brick under the necks with fiber paper as well-  and one underneath each side end of the base sheet in case of rolling- so it doesn't roll to the sides

I programmed the Bartlett last night with a basic bottle fuse to 1465  - and I have to say this is the easiest  controller I've had to  set - no up and down arrows etc  just key in the number - and so straight forward for programming - going to love this kiln

so once the kiln cover closed it was time to hit the start button
start time: 6:05  actually its 7:05  (did not  spring forward on this clock )

started at 46°F -

waited for the clicking and saw 47 next -


so in 1 hour I will go back and check - (probably not - will venture there before as I still need to work cleaning the area up from shifting everything for the kiln -  I will do this all day - every hour to be sure and check how long its taking to do a batch

so very happy to hear the clicking - now hope that the coils are ok and the probe but will keep my eye on it

Went up close to an hour and its at 575 - so its rising and working !  yeah

Kiln Installed

It was such a nice day and when I got home from work I decided to start to make sure I didnt need anyting

opened the panel moved over a couple of breakers to make room for the 60amp - put the new lug on the ground bar and installed the breaker

I assembled everything and turned on the light and then turned on the kiln - YIPPEE its installed !

was a nice sunny 50 deg F  -  and the weekend is supposed to be warmer - so need to figure out the bartlett controller for saturday morning

My part is finally in

the elusive lug for the ground bar in my electrical panel is finally in !!!!
could this mean I may have the kiln installed on the weekend and a test run in the works ?

O I hope so !!!!!!

stay tuned !
I plan on being in the studio all weekend with the weather being nice - cleaning and maybe possibly sitting down and torching along with doing a test run on the new kiln

excitement plus !!!!

Yeah - it may be warmer over the weekend

I trekked to the studio -

what a mess .......and this is just at the front of the building  and one corner -  moved some things around just to make my way into the kiln again - so hopefully that gets installed this week end
















 decided to break the sheet of tempered glass - it was 18" x 8 ft -  got out a sheet of tarp and sort of wrapped it and gave it a wack with a hammer - holy cow is it strong I hit it at least 5 times  before I gave a mighty wack and it finally shattered - stepped on it to break it down to smaller pieces (with my runners on of course)
I need more to make the candles, some small buckets and the small 5" tiles and I can give it a try

so the weather is breaking - I need to make some copper sheets for a customer  and clean up some more - I have to move my comfy chair out and down to the house - as its in the way - boo hoo  (I am going to have to see if I cant keep it there - I want so I can sit and wait for the kiln to be ready

New piece of equipment for this year - wet belt sander

Yes I finally got that wet belt sander I've wanted - so this year I got my big kiln and the sander as my new toys for the year

cant wait to use this as well 

Dumpster Diving for glass bottles

Yes I got to go to the dump on the weekend and dumpster dive looking for wine bottles -  and got to use my little gripper I got from the dollar store - worked like a dream
scored over a dozen bottles

my table is filling up - I like to take the labels off to speed things up come sprint 

I also scored on friday at my local glass place - they do tables, shower doors etc  and get old tempered glass - the bin I have is from broken they had and I got a 1ft by 8ft peice of tempered I have to break 

going to make some night ice candles like Rick Silas 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrTwq8u83e8

Fun Time at the Maple Syrup Festival

It was a pretty good venue  - not as good as most shows I attend but  then its a matter of catering to what people want to buy at that type of show -  - but for the cost  it was fun being there