Three Tries at Drop Outs

I've tried some drop-out slumps... So far I'm not very good at it, and I actually seem to have misplaced my good pictures of the pieces, so, that's annoying. Really the first one was the best, it kept it's thickness, slumped quite deep, and had a nice curve to it. It did take forever to move, and for some reason, it slipped along the mould, which made me feel like I couldn't control it, and I think was the major factor in maintaining the thickness of the glass.

March 6th firing:

1. 156C/H to 150C hold 00:15
2. 139C/H to 570C hold 00:25
3. 330C/H to 677C hold 01:00 (I bumped this up to 710 gradually)
4. AFAP to 510 C hold 01:30
5. 56C/H to 425C hold 00:10
6. 167C/H to 40C hold 00:00
7. END

So, for that one, I ended up watching it at 677C for about an hour, checking every 5 or 10 minutes. Eventually, I decided that that was just silly, and started bumping the temperature up 10 degrees at a time to 710C. So, the full slump time was about two hours, which I think it a little much. But, it was even, and didn't fall through the ring, so that's awesome. This was four layers of  glass, white on the bottom, next to the mould and then three layers of clear. It was on risers that were 15 cm tall.

March 7th firing:

1. 156C/H to 150C hold 00:15
2. 333C/H to 570C hold 00:25
3. 333C/H to 700C hold 01:00
4. AFAP to 510C hold 01:30
5. 56C/H to 425C hold 00:10
6. 167C/H to 40C hold 00:00
7. END

This one I just started with the higher temperature, and turned the speed up on the ramp. This worked ok, I slumped it for about 80 minutes, but this time the curve was much pointier, and the edge of the glass stayed put, meaning that the slumped part became quite thin. This one was only three layers of glass too, so that's also a factor. It was white on the bottom, then red, and then clear. Also 15 cm risers.

March 9th firing:

1. 222C/H to 150C hold 00:15
2. 222C/H to 570C hold 00:25
3. 333C/H to 700C hold 01:00
4. AFAP to 510C hold 01:30
5. 56C/H to 425C hold 00:10
6. 167C/H to 40C hold 00:00
7. END

This one was clear, white, clear clear, and I lowered the risers to 10 cm ones. I slowed down the ramp again, which seemed to make the slope of the sides less steep than the last one. So thats's nice. The glass still stayed around the edge, which is probably a good thing, since that makes it seem like its more under control. It seems like a bit of a waste of glass, but, that's probably worth it. I don't really like the shape though, I think the more egg-shaped version that I got first was nicer.