Firing tonight......

With my 'PLAN' in mind (cue twirling moustachio maniacal laughter.... mwahahaha!) I'm trying to stockpile as many little toy dolls as I can before next April.  

To this end, for the past 4 months or so, I've been engaged in a gargantuan batch of casting, which will yield somewhere around 250 little dolls, which is about one quarter of my total goal.

You: *incredulously*  ONE THOUSAND dolls.  SANDRA.... are you COMPLETELY mad?!
Me: *sniffily* Quite possibly.  But who are you to judge me?  After all, you're the one who's reading this shimmering prose drivel.
You:*grudgingly* Well yes, but I'm not the one busting a gut to make 1000 little dolls.  What on earth are you thinking?

Good point... well made.  What AM I thinking?  That's a ridiculous number of dolls.  Why would I ever need that many?

Well the answer, of course, is, I don't.  It IS a mad idea but time is running out for my possibly over-optimistic goal of taking some form of semi retirement following my 60th birthday next year.  My current downsizing exercise is part of the plan, and if it all comes off, in 6 month's time,  I will be parting with my kiln and the remainder of my molds, as well as all of my dollmaking tools and equipment.

That's the scary part..... the point of no return when I will no longer be able to actually create any more little dolls.  So, I need to know that I have a goodly stock of them in order to carry on with my multifarious projects.

You: *doggedly*  But.  Sandra.  A thousand?  Really?
Me: *quizzically*  Too much?  You think?

Well, in my insanity defence, I don't actually have to make 1000.  I have quite a few already made in my stock boxes.  But 1000 is a nice round number.  It's 100 squared.

You:*perplexed* No it's not.  The square root of 1000 is 31.something.
Me:*scoffingly*  Pshaw, pish and tish.  *surreptitious Googling*
You: *raised eyebrow*  Well......?
Me:*cough* Well.... as I was saying it's a nice round number.

Obviously, 1000 dolls is an insane number.  But I've got the bit between my teeth now so over the next 6 months I'm going to try to make as many as I can.

So.... 6 month is 26 weeks.  Allow 6 weeks for prevarication, Christmas, disillusionment, losing the will to live etc which leaves 20 weeks. 

20 working weeks so = 100 days.  
Obviously I can't cast for 100 days (I'm not THAT mad) so say..... 3 days per working week which is 60 days.

Each short casting session should yield 10 dolls so 600.  Added to the 250 currently in the kiln, plus the others in stock..... *quick mental arithmetic exercise aided by a slurp of wine* so that's...... *exultantly* DAMN NEAR 1000!!!!  

I rest my case. 

So, anyway, this is what 250 meticulously cast and laboriously soft-cleaned dolls (plus ALL their assorted limbs) look like.

Me?  OCD?  Ridiculous suggestion......

And yes, they're not all tiny dolls... there are some 1/12th in there too, as part of the aforementioned multifarious projects.

Are they ALL going to fit in here?   Probably not.

Bottom shelf.  To me this looks beautiful

Tiny limbs.... so many more though!

Tiny bit of space left for a few 1/12th pieces

I couldn't fit all the castings onto the 4 shelves, despite my scrupulously careful individual placement of each of the 250 doll bodies and the 1000  (THAT number again) individual arms and legs.  Did I mention that it all took 4 hours......?  But as I'll be doing this again (and again) the other pieces will be fired next time round.

The kiln is set to start at 5am tomorrow morning.  Which means it will be finished sometime in the afternoon.  Which means I'll be able to open the kiln on Saturday morning.  

Always a nerve-wracking moment.

If this firing is a disaster (which is always possible.... so much could go wrong) you will find me sobbing over the ashes of my broken dreams.

*sigh*