Photo of first Tink vessel, stage 1

The vessel came out of the kiln mostly intact, except for a crack in the mouth. This gave me all the more incentive to try other techniques I learned in her class on it: 1) adding PMC to it, and 2) reintroducing it to the flame and trying to heal the crack.

This vessel is about process, not product, so yes, it's not exactly pretty, but that's okay! (I keep telling myself that!) The dichro is an attempt to add interest to what would otherwise be a strange, Michelin Tire Guy-type vessel.

First I added PMC paste to the vessel and let it dry. Then I put it in the kiln, still on the mandrel, and let it warm up to standard Moretti annealing temperature (940 degrees F on my kiln). When it was hot, I reintroduced it to the flame, and it survived all of this (I think). I did feel one crack as it was heating, but I think that was a piece of dichro falling off.

I then tried healing the crack. This was more challenging; first the vessel became too hot and started losing its shape, then it fell right off the mandrel. I don't have hot fingers yet, so I grabbed it with pliers and tried to heal the crack that way while keep the rest of it warm. The crack mostly closed up, but when I tried to drop the vessel in the kiln, I had to shake it off the pliers because it was getting stuck. We'll see if it survives after it's annealed.

I'm actually proud of the fact that I even made this baby at all, and that so many things that could have gone wrong, like blowing it right off the mandrel, didn't happen!

Here is a photo of this PROCESS vessel pre-PMC and healing. Ah well, if nothing else, it might help to raise appreciation for the professionalism of Tink's vessels!