334/365 last day of november

HOT HOT HOT. yes indeed. we fired up the kiln tonight to finish off the pendants mom is making for gifts. The above shot is at around 1500 degrees and the glass layers are starting to melt. there is a layer of black, pieces of dicroric and then a layer of clear to smooth out the tops.

I blew up the picture a bit so you can see it a little clearer

Now were are fully fused close to 1650 degrees below and with the lid only slightly up the heat makes everything look yellow. you would not want to touch any of this not even the lid of the kiln as it is hot we wear protective gloves like the ones welders wear to do this.

I blew up the picture (thank you hubby for the new camera I could not have done this with my old one) a bit so you can see inside more. the glass is completely melted together and fused. Next step is cooling down to around 980 degrees and keeping it there for about 20 minutes then turning off the kiln and NO PEEKING which is soooo hard till it is completely cooled. With this size we could open it around 100 degrees and peek in with out the glass breaking but if it were a coaster or small plate no way could you do that. it would break.
So we will see the creations in the morning. Here is the table top kiln that we own. Not big but big enough for our uses. at least for now. Hubby and I really enjoy doing this and its something we can do together.
we don't live in a huge place so storage is always an issue. Found this cart at harbor freight tools and we roll it in and out from the spot by the dryer. It fit perfect which we were very happy about.

on the bottom we store our tools (gone at the moment because they are in the other room where we are still making ornaments and other things) and we keep our glass on the bottom as we don't have a huge collection of it yet. the drawer holds gloves, safety goggles, and some the temperature gage when we aren't using it.

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Mom was over on Saturday to make a few fused glass pins. Above are a few of them before firing.
Lots of little pieces to cut and place but its fun.

Sunday we fired up the kiln and got about 1/2 of them done. Here are some of the finished pieces. I think they will make great gifts.

332/365

it was a cold Saturday morning but we had to go downtown for a bit so I grabbed the camera and got a few pictures near the carousel of the ducks and geese.

331/365

Did a little shopping today but not till after lunchtime. not much into the crowds and really didn't need anything that was advertised in the specials. So after the shopping hubby and I headed out for a drive out to Tum Tum Washington to catch some sunshine (rare this time of the year) and the sun going down. The above picture was taken with normal white balance but check out below when I bumped up the kelvin to around 9000. now that is what it really looked like out there today. WOW I love my new camera.



Found a spot to take this just as the sun was dipping out of sight. I learned in a class not long ago to get those little spots and flares is done by a small aperture this was around 22 maybe 29. No photo shop done on this other than making the image smaller for web posting. I think I like this shot.

330/365 Thanksgiving

my brother took this picture a couple of days ago but thought it fitting for this post today.

didn't get to have a family picture done due to several reasons I wont go here. dang it maybe Christmas.
Hubby and the dog that looks way to comfortable and probably full from dinner.


and the kid wow i got pictures of him twice this week how did that happen??

329/365

Oh My GOD!!!! Target has TimTams. I bought 4 packages of them. We fell in love with the real thing about 10 years ago when we visited Leavenworth, Washington for our anniversary. The Australian store had them there.

We bought a box took them back to our room to try.

We somehow finished the whole box.

We went back and bought two more boxes, to take home of course.

only ONE made it home and barely.

Haven't cracked them open yet but thinking about it I think I need one right this moment.

328/365

Don't you just hate that there isn't much Thanksgiving decorations and such?? Well I do. its like the forgotten holiday. Only thing people care about are Food, shopping and getting time off. not that I object to any of those things but what happen to being thankful for everything in our lives.

I found this pin last year while at Disney World and have been wearing it all week.

327/365

My son and a few of his friends are doing a MOvember challenge. they have to not shave their Moustaches for the entire month of November. He is already not liking it and wants to save it so I thought I better grab a picture now while I can. and sneaky me said I needed to test the flash on the camera to do it because he soooooo hates to pose for pictures.



actually I don't think it looks that bad. He says he can see it out of the corner of his eye. I SOOOO can't see how he can believe me when I say I tried to see if I could see my lip. Serves him right for saying that while at the pizza parlor I am sure we had many a strange look.

326/365

Playing with frames, and textures and stuff in photoshop elements. poor dog he gets so tired of me taking his picture.

thought this was cool but couldn't get the nose to look just right. Took the spot away and it didn't look natural. left it and it stands out to much. tried to soften it and it just didn't look right. grrrrr

325/365

busted!!!!!! my husband loves Frango mints. they only come out this time of the year and I found his stash which was nearly depleted. So of course I stole a few too

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ok so these were not taken today but I spent time uploading pictures to my computer Friday so maybe that counts. The above picture is the spray paint artist and the painting my mom bought. Need to take a picture of the one i bought. we just couldn't refuse them. We watched this guy and another guy for about an hour doing paintings they work so fast and with such an uncontrollable product it was amazing.
these are a couple more samples
the start of a painting
using wadded up paper and putty knives.

his finished product. really thought about buying this one but the one I bought is a mountain scene which will fit better at my house.

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ok this should give it away for sure.
first time on freemont street and it was sooo cool


Good bye VEGAS till next time. thanks for the warm weather.

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One more day on the trip tomorrow night we leave for home but we saw lots of people today.

well not in the flesh people but hey close enough

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More shots of our trip. hmm where could we be??




why are sharks so hard to photograph grrrr. guess it doesn't help that I only took the point and shoot

320/365 nov 16

today is mom's birthday day and tomorrow I am taking her on a little trip for her birthday. Any guesses where we are going????

Well for a clue this is my bag. yep other than what I have on my back and my little point and shoot this is all I am taking.

319-365

Christmas cards drying on the table. we did 20 cards at my ctmh demo's house. used some really cool jingle paper. gads it was pink and I actually did it, don't you all fall down in shock at once. the cool thing was the shimmer paint we used. just mixed with a little re-inker and put on chipboard (snowflakes and stars) and added to the card. fun fun.

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Hair cut day for the household. well at least two of us. Duncan looks like a westie once again and not the shaggy DA.
\
and me well better at least oh those self closeup shots not fun.
30 shots later with he point and shoot one of the hyper dog and myself together finally worked with a little help from the crop tool.

317/365 first snowfall November 13

Friday the 13th unlucky? well it is if you don't want winter to come (raises hand and jumps up and down). I got home late from work so it was dark out but took a couple shots.