The Pleasures of Patience or Today in the Kitchen

I take great pleasure in the patience required for the sequence of steps leading up to firing the kiln

prepping the kiln shelf with kiln wash and a haik brush / a brush with exceedingly fine bristles / i googled to shop for these brushes, recommended in the glass fusing bible / and google asks Do You Mean Hair Brush? / i love google

the kiln wash must be applied in five coats across the shelf this way and then that way and diagonally / then it is dried in the kiln at 500 degrees with the lid propped open a few inches / unless the shelf is prepped properly the kiln wash will stick to the bottom of the glass thus adding another step for it will have to be removed

so far i have been a perfect kiln shelf prepper !

next

assembling and cutting the little bits of glass being careful not to cut my fingers / washing them in a bowl of soapy water / draining through a sieve / spreading out on a dishtowel and blotting them thoroughly dry

using a tweezer or the needlenose pliers (i like these better) to arrange the bits of glass on the shelf / put them in little stacks or whatever

so far so good / my second attention is fully engaged

then the heating up and monitoring the speed with which it reaches 1500 degrees / about an hour / and then controlling the rate of cooling

whew

an added bonus is the kiln is upstairs in the attic-studio

i am having a good work out running up and down the stairs as well as being particularly alert not to fall down them / there is no bannister / the stair well is narrow but there are railings along the opening at the top

i decide to hang some ropes from the railings to grab onto in case of dizziness

an elderly lady in the village where i lived in vermont had a big old house and she lived alone / as is true of many folks in vermont they are a hardy and independent lot and do a lot of heavy labor especially in the winter when it is necessary to brush snow off of roofs (rooves??)

her house had a large porch with windows overlooking it from the second story / inside the windows was a stair railing and on this was a coil of rope / she explained to me that she pulled the rope over to the windows / tied it around her waist and stepped out on the roof which of course was slanted to brush or shovel off the snow

whatta gal

i run out of patience waiting for the kiln to cool enough to remove the bits of glass / i busy myself in the kitchen making ghee and getting flours together to make some dough / yes / some dough / any kind of dough / i crave to make dough the same way i craved to make things out of clay when i was a child

i am making empanadas / more anon