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I saw a video on YouTube about this type of microwave kiln. It's a bit different from the one that I used here but it's an interesting watch nevertheless.
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Okay, and so I was left to myself to figure it out while Uncle Ghee was busy surfing on the internet checking out the showing time for Wolverine and Hanah Montana. -__-
Honestly, I was just dim wit clueless. Probably it sounds so straightforward easy that it seems almost unbelievably child's play like that it left me not knowing exactly what to do. o_O
And then I realize, there was no specific project for me to work on, which is why I'm a bit lost here. Should I blame Uncle Ghee for not being a dedicated teacher or myself for not researching beforehand? :P Hhhhhmmm.....
Well, anyway, I know I couldn't possibly come up with anything decent, I might as well come up with 'something' just so I could get over it and put 'something' into the kiln for firing and see for myself what the whole glass fusion thingy is about.
To be honest...... I don't even fancy the colours of the glasses available but thou shall not complain when it is done as a favour. :P
So, alright.... I did what I would normally do, choose my colour palette. It was kinda difficult actually given that the colours that I do like do not have pieces big enough as the base and colours which have pieces big enough to form the base are not exactly colours that I fancy. -____-
But die die also must choose and come up with something, right? And so, these are the colours I come up with.
To be honest, I don't even know how the colours are going to work together but I have to come up with 'something'.....somehow....
The smaller pieces on the right are actually all the transluscent types whereas the bigger red piece on the left is the opaque type which I'll be using it as the base.
There's a small risk I'm taking here.
This.
As you can see, both are red. So, basically I'm using red on red but the difference is that the transluscent piece is on the opaque one. As a matter of fact, all the smaller pieces that I'm planning to use on top of the opaque red are transluscent. Logic will dictate that they will probably not show but then, I'm curious to see how this match is going to turn out.
And so, the cutting begins......
The final 'design' I came up with was this.
Alright, so maybe it can't even qualify as a design. It looks like those jigsaw puzzles for toddlers you would most probably find in nursery schoold. -__-Alright, not to forget that I'll need to glue them to secure the placement of the smaller pieces.
But then hor......
Even with the glue, the placement of the glass bits has totally changed! LOL.... Oh, well.....
So, the next step is firing. Into the kiln it goes.
This is the kiln that I mentioned before and have been wanting to show you guys. A real kiln, yo! LOL....so jakun, never see a kiln before. :P This is the smaller one by the way. There's still another bigger one at the opposite corner but Uncle Ghee was using it at that time, firing some pottery. This one is about knee length height, maybe? Don't know.....but it sure is quite big.But, wait a minute. The kiln is so big but I only wanted to fire this small piece of glass. This is not going to be ermm.... kiln effective? Oh, shucks! Should have taken a picture of the inside of the kiln. Well, maybe in my next trip to the studio....
So, Uncle Ghee took this out instead.
What's this?
The first impression I got when I first saw this was how it reminds me of the cooler container that they normally use to store ice-cream cake. It sure looks like it, doesn't, it?
But no, that's not that la. It's a microwave kiln! :D Heh!
Yes, it's a kiln that you are going to use in the microwave. You are going to do the firing in this kiln in the microwave. Cool or what?
Well, apart from being kiln effective (if you ever have such a term!), it is also more cost effective, especially for home artists. I was told that this microwave kiln cost some £400 whereas the proper kiln earlier on some whopping £2000! But I did some search on the internet and found that some sellers in the US is selling them for less than $200 I think. Don't the difference in manufacturers made the difference though..... *shrugs*
So, the earlier glass piece will be placed inside and fired in the microwave.
Another important thing is this.
This is the ceramic fibre paper where the glass piece will be placed on inside the kiln so that when the glass melt, it won't stick to the kiln.
So, into the kiln the glass piece goes.
And then, into the microwave the kiln goes.
Okay, a little trivia here. I was told that this kiln was actually invented by the Japanese for some other purpose but somehow didn't work out in the way they wanted and so, the Americans bought over the patent and sold in a year, what the Japanese sold in five. Also, at present, this seems like the biggest size available. They do have a bigger one but the problem is in finding a microwave big enough to fit it in.And then, we set the time.
We set it at 6 minutes but the truth is, either of us were not very sure how long it is actually needed for the kiln to heat up enough to begin firind the glass. What I was told was it is done when I see the top centre hole of the kiln turn orange.
Well, after 6 minutes, it still did not turn orange and Uncle Ghee further added the time. I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I wasn't inside the kiln room all the while.
Thing is, neither Uncle Ghee is sure with the exact time himself since he uses the proper kiln with timing and heat programmed. To be honest, he has not much use for this microwave kiln, really, since he does the firing in bulk and using the bigger kiln would be much more appropriate. The bigger kiln is also much more convenient too since everything is pre-programmed.
I think he got this microwave kiln out of curiosity. LOL.......
So, the firing time at present is only a guesstimate while keeping an eye on the microwave all the time. I somehow feel that there must be a more efficient timing for this. I just gotta find out how....
Just then.....
It turn orange already! Yay!
So it's almost enough already and out from the microwave it comes.
Uncle Ghee opened it for a while and it was still orange hot inside. Unfortunately, I did not manage to capture a picture of it before Uncle Ghee closed it again and told me to wait for a bit. I saw it was still burning hot inside, you know like how those boiling lava looks like inside volcano? Just imagine how hot it must have been inside.
Anyway, when the kiln cool down a little. We opened it up to check on the piece of glass.
I didn't know what to expect but I sure wasn't expecting to see this!
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What the...... o_OHow did it end up looking so dark and "plum"?!
And then Uncle Ghee told me not to worry as that is how red looks like when it's hot. The colour will return as it cools down.
So we left it there for a bit. But either way, I still do not have a good feeling about it.
After some time, Uncle Ghee came out from the kiln room telling me that the contrast in my piece wasn't enough. So, I went into the kiln room and found my piece looking like.....
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This!
Okay, that's just plain ugly...... -____-
Sa Kor didn't think it was ugly though when I showed it to her but I think she's just being forgiving because I hated it.
Forgive me please given it was a clueless first piece. But at least I kind of have a picture of what it's all about already.
I was just hanging around in the studio after that and Uncle Ghee asked me, "Aren't you going to play some more?"
Well,... I was a bit reluctant because I felt like I needed some research before I can actually come up with a decent piece but nevertheless went ahead anyway.
I asked a few questions which Uncle Ghee replied with a, "You can try."
So, try I did.
And again..... I chose my colour palette and this time with less ambitious use of colour.
A more complimenting pallette of colours, perhaps?Roughly..... came up with this.
I was wondering if I could create a rectangular frame pendant.
But.......
Before I could actually fire it in the kiln to see how it would turn out, Uncle Ghee told me to pack up already because we've got a movie to catch. What the........ -__-
So, sorry peeps, can't show you the finished piece because I had to left it there and I think if Uncle Ghee is free during the weekdays, he might fire it for me which I will also only find out when I go into the studio again in the weekends. Will show you guys the finished piece then.
Meanwhile, I'll just go back and do more research.
The day ended with me watching Hanah Montana with my little cousin sis (I had to watch it because I need to take Shaunee to watch it while Uncle Ghee and his wife went to watch Wolverine because Shaunee wasn't old enough for Wolverine! But then... Hanah Montana turns out to be not such a bad watch after all.... light entertainment peeps, light entertainment.... :P) and finally, Mexican dinner at Chiquito. :D
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