I read on another forum a couple of days ago that taking the kiln up to 620C and leaving it for 4 hours (yes, 4!!!

) had helped someone strike those purples.
I can't cope with the concept of my glass sitting at 620C for 4 hours yet (having come from soft glass, it was a big leap of faith to have it at 605) but I did decide to do a test run with various not-very-wonderful bits and bobs I had lying around here yesterday. The result for the schedule below was definitely interesting, with a lot of extra purple but little effect on the greens and blues that I put in.
I'm still not ready to use this as a general schedule, partly because I think there could be a risk of over-striking in the kiln (probably me being cautious), but I will definitely be putting anything a bit disappointing (ok, maybe I
will use it a lot, then!

) through an additional schedule just to see what happens. I'll probably take the time at 620 up to an hour, too - I'm brave, me!

Ramp 700 to 620C
Hold 30mins
Ramp 80 to 565C
Hold 2 hours
Ramp 80 to 525
Hold 20 mins
Ramp 80 to 370
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