Playing with glass...

Not too long ago, Artbeads was having some major promotion and I managed to get the Ultralite Beehive Kiln for a pretty decent price (though the promo price was exactly the same as the original price at JEC Products, I had a further 10% discount plus Artbeads has a relatively cheaper expedited international shipping rate)

The only thing was, I had to get a step-down transformer since we are using 240V here. If someone at the home improvement shop had told us that transformers usually only perform at 80% their efficiency, then perhaps I wouldn't have been so puzzled with the glass fusing results I had! (Or perhaps, I should have done some read-up earlier....) Meh~

Fail #1
I was using an extension cord that was serving 2 other laptops and a 250W transformer. I guessed the kiln did not have enough amperage and was not hitting the intended max temperature.

But I had a good laugh at those ugly looking slabs.

Fail #2
I switched to another power line which was not used by other appliances, but still using the 250W transformer.

The glass seemed to fuse better, but what's up with the frosted look??

Try #3
I did some read-up and got to learn about devitrification. Apparently, my slabs of glass were soaking in the devitrification temperature for too long and unable to hit the molten state properly. Looks like my kiln was lingering in that temperature way too long and unable to hit a higher temperature.

At the same time, I was curious about transformers and did a fast research. That's when it hit me that I really needed a transformer with a higher wattage. (Actually, I was already suspecting it on my first fail but wasn't too sure...)

Armed with a 300W transformer, and with slightly better glass cutting skills, I think I finally managed to get something pretty lovely!

A Little Crafting Updates

The chevron top has now a few more rows to it... Which I am pretty ashamed to say.. I really need to push my pedal hard in getting the top done! ==

I have also been experimenting a bit on yarn dyeing using food dyes, the microwave method. Here's a test that I did using Rowan's wool cotton yarn (I know cotton is not a good choice for food dyes) with Wilton Royal Blue. The yarn was just out of the dye bath and still wet, thus the intense color.

Original yarn color on the right

But once washed and dried, the colors became a little more washed out. I'm surprised to see some purples from the royal blue food dye.

With some confidence gained from the experiment, I tried to play with variegated colors. I used Wilton royal blue as well as Wilton turquoise in 4 different dye baths. I got this pretty lovely result.

I'll most probably be using this yarn for an upcoming collaboration project. Stay tuned for more news on this! (If only I can already find time to start on this project!)

Next, I am really excited to receive my translucent powdered pigments for uv resin yesterday! (Yes, I'm still up at this hour.. Really bad habit of mine! Need to kick it!) I ordered them from Rakuten just a few days back, and was totally thrilled to receive the package this soon.

The magic of this powdered pigments is that they are able to make the uv resin appear opaque if you use a higher concentration or if you mix white into the other colors (but you'll get a more pastel color).

I need to do some further experiments to see how well the white pigment can mix with my inktense pigment blocks!

Mold making - A first

This was my first making a mold:

I used Easy Mold Silicone Putty as the molding material and I love the results! The vintage flower charm is only 1.5cm wide but the molding material picked up those little details perfectly!

The only minus point is that this molding material cannot be used to cast objects or come into contact with materials that contain sulphur (eg. masking tape, clays and latex gloves or soap) else it won't cure properly. And I learnt that the hard way even though that was printed in the instruction sheet.. =P