A couple of weeks ago, when I read the post “repaired and reborn” by aekeith I had a great idea! I went to work to transform some old lampwork glass beads. I had a disaster and now I have to start over! 
This past weekend I learned why having a controller on your kiln is so important! On Saturday morning I finished designing a PMC3 piece I had been working on for two weeks. I decided it was finally time to fire it up in the kiln. I put it in, turned the kiln on high and walked away. I thought to myself, “o.k. when I get back in the house I will set the timer for 10 minutes and then go back out to turn it down.” Well, my son decided it was time for a nap and my daughter and I decided we were hungry. Needless to say, I forgot to set the timer! An hour and a half went by and as I was beginning to work on a glass project I remembered that I turned the kiln on. In a panic I ran out to the garage and noticed that the temperature was well over 2200 degrees! I immediately turned off the kiln, unplugged it and opened the door. As I pulled the brick door out I noticed it was glowing orange. I then peeked in the kiln to see if my project had survived. To my dismay it was a puddle in the bottom of the kiln. I thought I would cry!!
Thankfully I did not burn my house down!
