I Was SO Bad.....

Yesterday was the first weekday that I have missed posting since I started this blog. Time just ran away from me on multiple-jointed feet and I had to leave a lot of Email unresolved for 24 hours. Just not like me at all....but hopefully it was a one-time thing that won't repeat.

I'll take this opportunity to thank whatever entity it is who is in charge of accidents. My art, often, seems to run on the principle that whatever can go wrong probably will. I had in mind to enamel paint a pendant for my DH for his holiday gift. (Check out the portrait of Christopher Marlowe above by one of the premier enamel painters - Gillie Hoyte Byrom.) I spent some of Wednesday (after I got my enamel studio quickly set up in my home for the next few weeks) painting two different pre-enameled disks with the image that I had chosen for him. I fired them, cooled them, looked at them and hated them. I know that all of my painting must go through an "ick" stage. That stage where I look at the image and think that it will never look good - the paints aren't blended well, the colors aren't right, the shapes are wrong, etc. I also know that passing through the "ick" into the "ummm" is usually only a matter of time and perseverence. But the paints were not cooperating - drying much sooner than I would have anticipated oil paints to dry, and I didn't have any linseed oil handy to extend the drying properties.

I decided to operate under the principle of destruction instead. I recalled Linda Darty stating that the enamel paints, when subjected to too much heat, will fade and fuse with the layers below - losing all semblance of the original image. I tested that theory with a vengance by setting the kiln to 1600 (these paints usually fire at 1350-1400) and putting the disks in for a five minute fire (the paints usually want 1 to 1-1/2 minutes maximum to fire well). They came out of the kiln hot and glowing and cooled down into some very wonderful looking disks. They are super cool!!! These aren't what I had intended...but they were a very happy accident, so my thanks go out to the God/dess of accidents - THANKS SO MUCH!!!! Now to work on how to set these appropriately.....