wednesday
Still sick - sicker today than yesterday. Blaa. ..
I got the cutest little Sumi painting kit today. After reading about how Lynda Barry uses a sumi brush to paint her cartoons and art work I wanted to try it too. I played with it a little this morning. I like the feel of it and the kit is (cheap but) a work of art in itself. I made a wire rack out of copper wire so I can hang the little brushes up to dry when I'm done using them. One brush in the kit was a piece of crap and the bristles won't stay in it but the other 3 brushes are nice.
I don't think my new kiln shows the correct temp at all. It is firing way too hot for what it says it is, so I'm calibrating it today with pyrometric cones to see what the real temp is. That will take about 1 hour and 40 minutes to go from room temp up through cones 06, 05 and 04 and see when each one melts. So I am keeping a very close watch on it right now - writing this and running over every 5 minutes to check to see if a cone has melted yet. I have special safety glasses (for lamp working glass) so I can look into the hot kiln without hurting my eyes. Getting the kiln calibrated was the one and only thing on my to-do list today.
Tried to watch The Magic Flute while resting in bed this morning but fell asleep. I like the movie but was too tired to stay awake while laying in bed. The sleep was probably better for me...
That's all the news for today.
I got the cutest little Sumi painting kit today. After reading about how Lynda Barry uses a sumi brush to paint her cartoons and art work I wanted to try it too. I played with it a little this morning. I like the feel of it and the kit is (cheap but) a work of art in itself. I made a wire rack out of copper wire so I can hang the little brushes up to dry when I'm done using them. One brush in the kit was a piece of crap and the bristles won't stay in it but the other 3 brushes are nice.
I don't think my new kiln shows the correct temp at all. It is firing way too hot for what it says it is, so I'm calibrating it today with pyrometric cones to see what the real temp is. That will take about 1 hour and 40 minutes to go from room temp up through cones 06, 05 and 04 and see when each one melts. So I am keeping a very close watch on it right now - writing this and running over every 5 minutes to check to see if a cone has melted yet. I have special safety glasses (for lamp working glass) so I can look into the hot kiln without hurting my eyes. Getting the kiln calibrated was the one and only thing on my to-do list today.
Tried to watch The Magic Flute while resting in bed this morning but fell asleep. I like the movie but was too tired to stay awake while laying in bed. The sleep was probably better for me...
That's all the news for today.