First Marble Tests

I got my first round of tests into the kiln today! 

Although I was mainly thinking about casting I thought I could maybe get some more subtle feathery bits if I used crushed up powdery glass (rather then the larger frit I have for casting). Also I think it's a bit quicker so I can start to make some decisions earlier on. So many benefits! 

If you squint they look circular...

I was advised to cut my circles out free hand (as I'm sure you can tell) as they're so small they were really awkward to use the special circle cutter on- 50 to 60 mm. They can be tidied up a bit after they've been fused if they're still looking that much of a state!

The arrangement makes me happy. 

There you can see the little circles with tiny bits of browny grey and black. They also have disks of clear (in between the white and colours) to stop them warping and going funny in the kiln- something to do with glass liking to be 6mm. The little rectangles with copper blue are also tests I am doing for Imitate as the glass used is (maybe) reactive and could have some interesting things going on (I've been advised). 

All of the other rectangles are for engraving on to later in the week with Ainsley Francis and Alison Kinnaird. We're going to be doing cameo engraving, but I should probably just write a whole other series of blog posts about that!

I'm looking forward to this all being ready, it'll be nice to actually have some glass made!