Well it had to happen sooner or later. I had a fire in my studio! But luckily, it was a very, very minor but stinky one. I have been experimenting with polymer clay in my designs. Having only used polymer clay once, the last thing on my mind was how to “fire” it. I labored making my design beautiful. Popped them in to my toaster oven then happily proceeded to move to my next project. About 5 minutes into it, I looked over and thick black smoke was billowing out of the toaster oven!!! And of course since I don’t use my toaster oven on a daily basis, it was propped up on boxes next to curtains!!! I’m always extremely careful, as a matter of fact a little overly cautious whenever I use a torch or even operate my kiln. However, for some reason in MY mind low temperature = not dangerous. Wrong!!!!!!! Luckily, I was there to put it out. Lesson learned ALWAYS use caution when using any electrical appliance. Here are the charred fruits of my labor…they kind of look like lava! Wait ….I think I see the Virgin Mary in one of them…..Ebay here I come!!!
P.S. A note to my students, Remember the safety chant? It DOES apply to polymer clay too!
Ok time to take my black lungs back into the studio, I think the smoke has cleared!
