Blimey . . is it really that long since my last blog post?? Well . . yeah it is! It's been quite a busy year here at Chez Gloria, what with the dicho-findings business, glass art work and kiln problems! Since I last posted I have made a few more "Flower" bowls, using some of the design elements in the original white one and tweaking some of the others. Here are some of the results: . . And just as I was about to continue this series of bowls . . my kiln crashed! Well . . not crashed exactly . . the insulation material in the lid started to degrade and fall into the glass when it was hot! Not a great thing to happen when you spend tens of hours making something beautiful! It took 10 weeks of hard emailing, persuading, cajoling and threatening to get a refund on the kiln . . almost the whole summer! I've ordered a new replacement kiln . . and needless to say I haven't ordered one from the same company! The new kiln will be here in around 2 weeks time! An FK4, up-specced, from Kilncare . . a British Kiln Manufacturer! It's 1000mm x 500mm inside, so it will allow me to make much bigger architectural and glass art pieces, as well as make two flower bowls at the same time! I'm really quite looking forward to getting the kiln and am so excited at the new posibilities that it will open up for me . . even if the dichro-findings does take up a lot of time! . . and I fully intend to document my progress here on the Cooking With Glass Blog!