Well, this post has totally shifted gears from what I wanted to do, to what I think it will become. As I was loading work into my kiln on Wednesday, I kept thinking about the movie the Wizard of Oz. At the beginning of the movie, it starts in black and white and then it switches to color when the get to Oz. I was thinking to myself, That is just like firing a kiln! You glaze your work and the bright blue or green glazes just look like a drab shade of grey, but when you unload your kiln you get that beautiful POP! of color.
All that to say the past week has been filled with long hours of glazing and finishing a huge kiln load of work. As any ceramicist will testify the kiln firing is the most nervewracking part: You make all of your work, put it in the kiln and wait for the results for 2 days. A lot of times it's also referenced to Christmas anxiety, the similar feeling of seeing your presents under the tree and waiting to unwrap them to find out what you got!
Well, I debated about not posting after finished my firing yesterday because it could probably go down as one of the worst firings I have ever had! I won't get technical, but essentially the top of the kiln is undercooked and the bottom of the kiln is overcooked. Ugh. It went from Christmas anxiety, to complete dread. I have several shows which need to have work mailed to them on Monday and I am already trying to plot out what I already have fired that I can send to them. That's a horrible feeling.
Tomorrow morning I will unload the kiln and find out how bad the damage is, but until then....
