Hot, hot, hot!

So there's this glass kiln in my art room.  I bought it the first year I was at camp so we could do copper enameling, which ended up not impressing the kids at all.  And the kiln has sat idle for four summers, waiting for my harried brain to produce some semblance of a good idea.

When I stsrted my Etsy shop, I spent way too much time poring over other people's shops, looking for inspiration, making treasuries, and occasionally, falling a little bit in love.  That's what happened when I found Marblry, Carinne's gorgeous shop full of melted marbles.  I was smitten, and I began growing my own  hoard of vintage marbles, just in case.  Today I finally got a chance to pop a one in the kiln, and I'm pleased to report the results are good.

I MacGyvered a bail out of some 16 gauge wire, since I didn't happen to have any "proper" bails on hand, and glued it on the flat side of my melted marble with E6000, Smelly Glue of Champions.  When I make the next ones, I'll use a professional grade glass glue, but I was too excited to leave it be while I went glue-shopping, and this'll do for the time being.

Still going to have to play around with temperatures and timing, and figure out what to put the marble on while it's firing---mine has some firebrick attached to the back, and that won't do if I'm giving them as gifts. 

Don't you love it when crafty things work out?