It seems like just yesterday I was buying my first baby kiln an Evenheat Studio Pro. Then I got the papa kiln a Paragon Pearl 22. The first is sometimes too small, while the second is sometimes too big.  So I now have the mama kiln a Skutt Firebox 14. This means I pretty much have one kiln from each of the major manufacturers. And I promise, hon, it’s my last kiln. Really, I do!

The Firebox 14 kiln gives me the ability to do tests and experiments on smaller pieces without heating up my bigger kiln. It’s really a great size. This kiln will hold a square foot of 4×4 tiles. The shelf kit that comes with the kiln is 12″ x 13″. I am not sure why they didn’t make it square. I have to remember to grab the shelf on the shorter 12 inch side so that I can get my fingers out after placing the shelf in the kiln.

The first thing I noticed about the Skutt was the awkward placement of the electrical cord. It comes out from the front of the kiln (the controller box). So if you place the kiln facing out into the room the cord goes from the front, under the kiln to the back. This means you basically have to place the kiln right in front of the outlet. My outlet is raised up on the wall.  As you can see in the picture, I ended up placing the kiln sideways to give me a few more inches to position the kiln where I wanted it. I’m sure there is some engineering requirement that resulted in this configuration. Just wish  they had made the cord a bit longer.

The other thing I had to get used to was the controller. Now I will readily admit that I have been spoiled with the 12 key controller on the Paragon Pearl. The Skutt has just 3 buttons that are used to access all functions and input firing schedules. Using the arrow up key to advance the temperature to 9999 is not the most convenient. I can see that a 3 button controller can be more confusing for some than a 12 button controller. All in all though, after using it a few times, it started to make sense. It does come programmed with several basic firing schedules, but these are just a place to start. One other thing I miss is an alarm. On the Paragon I can set an alarm to go off based on the temperature. This is nice to have when you want to check on things during the process time of the schedule.

The Firebox 14 runs on standard household current. This makes it a great kiln for anyone that doesn’t want to add a  240 electrical line.  It is big enough to do some decent size plates and bowels.  However, at 6.5″ deep it will be limited on the size of any drape molds. All in all I am very impressed with this kiln. But I am glad I have my other two kilns as well. Each one serves a purpose. I really do need three kilns!

This glass handkerchief vase came out of the kiln Tuesday morning. I used a drape mold from Slumpy’s called Sorrento. I love the shape of this mold. The base is a bit wider than my other  mold which makes this perfect for a taller drape. This vase is a little over 8 inches tall. It looks great sitting on my kitchen windowsill with the sun light shining through it. Can’t wait to see what it will look like full of white mums.

This fused glass sushi plate is another project I made in the fused glass class I took at Hollander Glass. We made pattern bars in the first class. The next class we cut up the pattern bars and fused them into another piece. After it came out of the kiln, I sandblasted the blue sides of this dish which gave it a really unique look that is difficult to capture in a picture. It has a matte almost stone-like look to it.

Thanks Cyndi! Looks like a sand blaster is on my list of tools to buy now. Yes, honey! I’ll need more room in the garage!

This glass business card holder was made using Slumpy’s stainless steel business card mold. I’m still tinkering with the firing schedule (aren’t we always?) but all in all it turned out great.

Made a recycled glass soap dish from some lighter colored green glass. I’m calling it Spa Green.

I’m sure you have seen my other soap dishes, but in case you haven’t here is how I make these eco-friendly soap dishes. I take bottles, remove the labels, clean well, and break into small pieces. The pieces are then put into the kiln to fuse together at a temperature over 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. The next day the flat piece is placed on a mold and put back in  the kiln. It is slowly heated to form to the mold and then slowly cooled down.

It is for sale here. Check my store or online shops for other colors.

Recycled Glass Soap Dish - Spa Green

$18.00

As a young newlywed couple, when my car needed to be replaced, my logical husband was thinking ahead. A “family” car was what he thought we should buy. That made perfect sense, but I really didn’t want to be seen driving a station wagon. At the car dealership, I lobbied hard for the “sport package” so I could have a red stripe on the side of my new station wagon. A totally unnecessary expense, but my wonderful husband understood just how important it was to me.

One year while shopping at Sam’s on the last day of the school year I saw an above ground pool for sale. How great would that be! I could go home and have it all set up by the time the kids got home from school. They’d have hours of fun all summer and I’d get the Mother of the Year award. I so could have done it too except for the instructions that talked about removing all the grass and leveling the ground with sand. My husband rescued me! He spent the next three days in the Texas heat putting up the pool. And I never once heard him swear under his breath.

Then one day ten years ago, I came home and said, “You know what? I think we should move to the country. I found a great lot to build on.”  I don’t even remember what my husband said. But by this point in our marriage I don’t think he was in the least bit surprised. Turns out it was a really good thing we moved because there was definitely no room for my kilns at our old house.

Thank you honey for sharing this great adventure with me for 30 years!

We celebrated our 30^th anniversary with a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. The empty bottle ended up in the kiln, of course, and is now for sale.

Dom Perignon Champagne Bottle Cheese ...

$30.00

Here is the completed bowl that I made in my fusing class that I took at Hollander Glass. I love this technique and can’t wait to try it in another project. It looks like I’ll need another piece of equipment though. A flat lap sander is an essential part of the process.

Fused Glass Strip Technique

Wow, the last few weeks have been crazy busy around here. Our college graduate got a job. Yay! It was a whirlwind of activity getting him moved and ready for his new job. We are so proud of him. Last week I was busy with our church’s Baby Daze consignment sale. Anyone can drop off their priced baby and children items for sale. Volunteers work the sale. Owners of the items get 60% of the sale price and the church gets 40%. The community gets great deals on all kinds of kids stuff, and anything that doesn’t get picked up goes to local charities. This is a real win-win situation.

All this to say I haven’t done much in the glass studio lately. I did take a class a few weeks ago at Hollander glass here in Houston and worked on the strip technique above. It uses 1/4 strips of glass placed cut side up.  This piece will be slumped into a bowl.

Oh and even though my kids are grown, I found a great buy at the Baby Daze sale. I got a baby monitor for $10 which now sits in my garage studio so I can hear the temperature alarm on my kiln.

Have you ever seen an armadillo? Here in Texas I see them quite regularly. They are strange looking creatures. Rather prehistoric with their armor looking shell. They have a tiny little head, narrow snout, small pointy ears, and beady little eyes. Not exactly cute and cuddly, not even as a stuffed animal!

Normally, I see them on display as road kill lying on their backs four little legs pointing straight up towards the heavens. They are nocturnal animals, so you usually don’t see them during the day. By night they root around in the yard destroying the landscaping. They dig huge holes that can kill shrubs. One day last summer I saw my cat sitting on our back deck staring down an armadillo that was about 20 feet away from the deck. The armadillo was blissfully oblivious to the cat. I thought it strange to see the creature out during the day. When I opened the door to go out and investigate, my cat was suddenly filled with fearless abandon and charged straight for the armadillo. The armadillo made an evasive maneuver and managed to run under the deck before the cat ever got close to him. Though I don’t think the cat ever really intended to actually get close.

So this is where that scoundrel is living! Under my deck! Several days later I saw the armadillo out again. This time the cat was nowhere to be seen, and the armadillo was a good 50 feet away from the deck. I stealthily walked into the garage and grabbed a shovel. With his back to me and shovel in hand I quietly tippy toed my way towards the armadillo. As I got about 15 feet away from him a sudden thought flashed through my head. What exactly was I planning to do with the shovel when I got close to him? Unfortunately, I didn’t have any time to contemplate this. No sooner did the thought enter my brain then the armadillo spotted me! I took one step towards him and he charged me. I was screaming, jumping out of the way and wildly flailing the shovel around. I think I managed to land the shovel on his back once, but it just bounced off. He easily made it back under the deck. Yes, it was a sight to behold. This would have been a Funniest Home Videos finalist for sure! Now I realize that he didn’t really charge at me, but that I was merely standing between him and the safety of his deck.

Earlier this year our good friend and his daughter visited us. During their visit I taught her how to do stained glass. I also told them the about my armadillo encounter. They were back for a visit a few weeks ago and Kristen brought me a gift. She designed and created a stained glass armadillo. And this armadillo is ready to defend himself! Okay this may just be the only cute armadillo out there! Thanks Kristen.

If you need help these days it’s often difficult to find a contact phone number. Once you sleuth out the number, you aren’t likely to get a live person. Instead you get an array of phone menus. The worst are the voice menus with the sappy “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that. Let’s try again.” Grrrrrr!! Trust me when I tell you that yelling your answer loudly into the phone doesn’t help.

Even local businesses seem to care less about their customers. Two weeks ago I went to a ComedySportz in Houston. I left my sweater there. When I called the club they said, “Yes we have your sweater.” I asked if they could stick it in an envelope and send it to me and that I would be happy to send the postage to them. When the person on the other end of the phone said, “No, I can’t do that” I was stunned. I fell silent for a moment and reassured her that I would be happy to pay. Again the answer was no! I was told I could come to the club on a Friday or Saturday evening to pick it up. Still stunned I explained that this would mean a 2 hour round trip and said, “Is there no one there that could send it to me?” Again the answer was, “No we can’t do that.” No sorry, no explanation, just “no.” I stewed on this for a few days. The more I thought about it, the more disappointed I was that another human being wouldn’t take the time to help me out. I sent an email in one last ditch effort and got no response.

This brings me to the reason I love selling and shopping online with independent artisans at places like Etsy.com, 1000Markets.com and through sites like Indie Artisans. One of the advantages of shopping small independent artisans on these venues is that the person selling the item also made the item. They take pride in their work. They are willing to talk to their customers, answer any questions, and in general will jump through hoops to have a happy customer. Customer service is a top priority. Maybe the internet isn’t so impersonal after all.

UPDATE: Don’t know how the owner of ComedySportz saw this post, but she did and contacted me. She is sending my sweater and has gone above and beyond to make a disappointed customer happy. That’s what great customer service is all about. We don’t always get things right, but we always try to end up with a happy customer.  Thank you ComedySportz!