Kiln Unload 11/30

As promised, I unloaded the biggest batch of work I have ever made at one time. It was definitely like Christmas. To a potter, the feeling of opening a kiln full of work is almost like getting paid. The kiln can be the best firing I've ever had, or be a disaster with ruined pots and lost money. Glazes are a funny thing to work with. Sometime they turn out better than expected, and sometimes they can really ruin a pot. Some glazes are incredibly picky in the temperature and oxygen levels that they need, which can lead to some disastrous outcomes if those levels are not right. The glaze I use on most of my pots is meant to turn out in a range of blues. If the glaze is applied really thick, which would almost the consistency of pancake batter, the glaze will turn a light blue with areas of almost white. If the glaze has the perfect amount of water, it will be the consistency of a krispy kreme donut glaze, and will turn out a medium blue color with some lighter areas and darker areas. If the glaze is really thin with too much water, it would be similar to the consistency of a milk or a light cream and be a deep blue with dark blue spots. In the pots that came out of this kiln, the glaze was on the runnier side, and came out pretty dark with areas of brown.

Everything came out of the kiln perfectly and had no runs on the feet. When you make a jar, you always fire the lid on the pot so that the lid will not shrink differently than the jar. That would cause the lid to never fit correctly. When I pulled my three jars out of the kiln, the lids are stuck on the jars, but I was able to get them to separate by tapping the jar with a piece of wood while holding it slightly off the table to have gravity help me. While holding the jar by the lid, you spin the jar and keep tapping on the top of the jar where the lid meets it. After a few taps around, the jar will separate and fall, so it is important to have a pillow or something soft beneath it.

These are a few pictures of pieces that I took out of the kiln today, as well as a few from a couple of weeks ago. I don't have pictures of all of the new pieces, but I will post those later this week.