Buying My First Kiln
Hello again, friends. A few months ago I took some very good advice from y'all, and put out a call for help in raising the tuition to attend my first glass-painting course down at Uroboros Studio. It was absolutely transformative -- reengaging and invigorating my depleted focus and opening a path in my mind to where I want to go moving forward. I've been able to use my new training to reopen a few stalled out commissions, to imagine new stories to tell, and most importantly -- to engage and contribute to a world outside my day jobs.
At this point though, I'm hitting a bit of a hurdle. While I do have some kiln access at my job, the act of packing up unfired glass in a backpack and biking it from my house has led to half my efforts getting scratched, cracked, or otherwise damaged in transit. One bump in the road can be enough to set me back many days. And being a production studio, it's also an unpredictable moment when a kiln is actually free for me in the first place. In light of that, I've been saving up for a small home kiln of my own. I took notes during my class, and found one perfect for my needs: it's low wattage, it's impressively resistant to thermal shock, it's compact and would allow for many firings in a single day. And it's adorable and coincidentally ships free from a town in South Texas I lived in as a kid.
I'm about a third of the way there myself, but not sure if I'll be able to put anything else aside before the New Year. Considering how much I want to get done before Christmas, and the fact that I can barely restrain my enthusiasm for the work these days, I'm once again reaching out to y'all. If you contributed to my last campaign before my class, rest assured that you aren't forgotten and I'm still planning on getting something to you by the holidays. But if you didn't, I'll still try and make it worth your while.