The First Anneal

Nothing sagged, nothing busted, nothing etched. Not bad for a first try. The first batch of beads through the kiln. Effetre White with blue/purple twisted dots melted in. Effetre clear wrapped with Effetre Grass vine, melted into tubewith raised twist-flower unknown light blue. My white fish with the Nyx dots that developed a neat silverline…

A Day of Wonders

The Little Kiln’s First Run After weeks of reading up on how to do it, I’m running my first batch anneal this afternoon. The reason to batch anneal is to prevent fractures resulting from micro-cracks related to rapid cooling. I’ve been using hot-mats to cool my beads in, which is sufficient to prevent major cracks…

YES!

Got a call this morning from a head-hunter who had seen my credentials and thought I’d do well at a 3 year contract position opening up about an hour from my home. The pay is better than I made before, my prior experience working with the Feds is a huge plus, and it would get…

Waiting

The hummingbirds have made their return, although their nest is definitely history. I’ve spied them in the garden among the Liatris and Physostegia. The bees and butterflies all seem to prefer the Liatris, but I’ve only seen the hummingbirds at the Physostegia so far. Since the plants are a scant two to three feet from…

Battle Fronts

Anybody interested in a little irony? Remember back a little over two weeks ago when I took over both parking spots by my house because the next-door-neighbors kept taking both spots? Well, the day I did that the neighbors apparently left on some protracted trip. They haven’t been back since. By the time they return…

Heat Broke

It’s pouring outside right now as a band of nasty thunderstorms pass through. For the first time in a week I feel relatively human again. I put three more resumes out last week. The one I have the highest hopes for is a two-year temp position for a veterinarian to work at a Pharm incident…

Estivation

It’s too hot to do anything except occasionally rotate to present the other side to the fan. Philadelphia peaked at 102°F (38.9°C) this afternoon. It’s just after 6:00 now, and 101° in the city. I put a 9″X13″ pan of water out in the garden with ice in it in the shade this afternoon for…