So much of what I do is experimental, I get some hare-brained idea and off I go to the store to find some complicated ingredients. In the immortal words of Dr. Frankenstein “IT COULD WORK!”
So, of course, I wondered if the black and white aquarium sand would work for fusing. Because if it did, well how cool would that be? I’d have two additional colors of ‘dirt’ to work with. I did some research and found that most of the colored aquarium sands are coated with acrylic, which is a no-no in the kiln. I made absolutely certain that the sand I bought wasn’t coated.
The first thing to do is test that gorgeous stuff! Using one of my handy ceramic tile molds, I add several tablespoons of each color:
Then fire it to full fuse. I should add here that I poked these into the corner of the kiln with a whole load of other fused pieces.
And, the very exciting conclusion?
Bah. Not every experiment is a success. BUT, every experiment teaches me something, so, there you go. Black and white aquarium sand don’t stay so black and white after a full fuse firing. Now I’m wondering how they hold up to a slumping temp firing. I’ll let you know.