Bright Blue Beads - Part Two

This is what a bit over 100 glazed beads look like. It took longer than I thought it would, but I just kept at it, and then they were done.

I had to get away from them for a short while, so I went for a bike ride (I have a road bike, and it is wonderful exercise) around my neighborhood.

After returning from exercising, I had to choose between fixing dinner or putting the beads on the stainless steel rods. I looked in the fridge and realized we have a couple of chicken breasts that were grilled yesterday still in there ... decided to stir fry some veggies, throw in some Raman noodles, and chow down.  The veggies won't take more than about 10 minutes to chop and realizing I had plenty of time still to spare, I strung all the beads on the rods and stacked them in the kiln. 

 I probably could fit more in the kiln than I did, but whenever I squash the beads together I usually lose more than a few from bumping together during the firing.  So 2-3 beads on each rod works best for me.  The rods are not bright and shiny because they have been fired so many times.

Most of these beads which I have glazed today are in my 'star fossil' design which appeared in the Fall Stringing 2014 magazine.  I realized when the magazine hit the store shelves that I had sold so many of them over the spring and summer that I only had one or two left.  I did a bit of searching and found quite a few of those designs in bisque form.  After finding them, I had to figure out which underglaze I had used.  I hope it was Marine Blue because that's what I glazed these in ... if it was a different blue, well then, oh well.  Blue is a great color, no matter what color blue it is.  Can I get an Amen?

Here is a photo of the beads that fit into the kiln and all the beads that will have to wait for another firing.   

There are three rows of beads.  The first two rows have 12 beads each, so that's 24 beads, and the top row has 17, 42 beads in total for this firing.  That's almost half of what I have glazed, and I will try to get the rest in the kiln later. 

I did go ahead and start the firing. It will take about 6-8 hours.  I am firing this batch to cone 04.

The kiln should shut off between 10 pm and 12 am.  I won't go to sleep until they are fired.  I am not able to sleep with that kiln firing.  I like to keep my eye on things and make certain all is well.

 I'll take pics and post the results tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!  -- Natalie