We were at a conference from about 9am until 10pm each day so the only day we had to go up to the mountain itself was Monday, right before we drive back home. I decided to take photo of the mountain in the distance as viewed from town on Friday. It’s so lovely.
Glad I got THAT photo because on Monday the mountain was shrouded in mist.
So we drove up through the fog as far as we could (they close different gates along the way, depending where the snow is), then we got out and walked for a bit. Neither one of us wanted our photo taken, but I had the phone. Ha ha ha!
Saw some cool things along the way. Stacked rocks…
Rocks that look like Army camouflage…
Couldn’t help humming Misty Mountain Hop while driving back down the mountain. It was so lovely.
Here’s a photo I found while I was looking for something else today. This is super old. That’s my mom and my brother in the photo. My brother is 47 now so the photo is almost 40 years old. It was taken at the Vortex (aka “Mystery Spot”) in Santa Cruz, California.
Anyway, I just thought it was funny that this photo has weird blue lightning-like streaks on it.
And now onto work. Metal clay specifically. After many firing sessions that came out looking like I was firing too high, I began to test the temp much lower, working my way UP rather than down.
I’m rethinking this now. Instead of firing as low as I can,,, only making sure the metal has sintered, I’m going to go back to working my way down and firing as high as I can… without signs of over-firing.
Metal clay will always be strongest at its highest firing temp.
I fired a test piece of Steel XT today at 1750 and it came out perfectly. I even hammered it a bit (it was out of shape through no fault of the firing) afterward and didn’t crack or split.
BTW, I don’t do shows, so I have virtually nothing as far as displays go. A few days before we left I found this thread holder at a garage sale for $5.
I cleaned it up and painted it black. Forgive the terrible “after” photo. To say the corner I was in was dimly lit would be an understatement and this was the best my phone could do.
It was just too perfect that the only hole punch I had on me made the perfect size hole for my cards to hang on the spool holders.
Doncha love it when the little things just come perfectly together ... kuddos kid !!! also loved the misty pictures of Shasta
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos of Mt. Shasta. And Holy Cow, your mom looks exactly the same to me! Give her my best. I really enjoyed seeing the snow on the mountains esp since it's a sweltering 93 and very humid day here. That snow looks wonderful. (says the girl who couldn't wait for winter to end this year.)
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