To answer Coral’s question….

Last night was the first part of a 2-session class at the delightful Zelda’s Bead Kit Company. The plan was to use metal clay on the first night to create our own custom-made toggle clasps and, if desired, focal beads. I’d take them back with me to fire and tumble-polish them the next day. Then, on the second evening, everyone would return to Zelda’s for a quick lesson on work-hardening and applying a patina, after which we’d select beads and make ourselves some wonderful bracelets.

One of the participants last night had a number of questions about kilns for use with metal clay. One of her questions was how many pieces you could fit on one kiln shelf. Well, the answer is, just about as many pieces as all of us made last night! Here’s one of my kiln shelves (the upper right corner has been missing since I first got this shelf…) ready to go into the kiln (though I moved Ellie’s toggle bar, up on the top row, down a little bit just before I put it in).

With firing more analytical than creative a process, if you were in the class and are looking for your piece, know that the pieces are spread around the shelf in roughly the same arrangement as participants were seated…. They’re firing as I write this. With luck (but with no promises), I will remember to take some photos of the finished pieces to share here too.