The photo above shows my last load of pre-fired pots at Bluxome Street. In all the excitement of unloading my last kiln I forgot to take a photo of the post fired ware.
Opening the kiln is always a time filled with a myriad of emotion, anticipation, excitement, and dread. Though you would like to think that you are the master of every firing, sometimes the kiln in its ever changing behavior gets the best of you.
As the final notation on my kiln firing log stated, “the kiln won this one,” I have to say my gut feelings that night after the firing was over were pretty spot on. Somehow I let the kiln get the best of me.
I am not saying that I did not get some gems from the kiln, but overall it did not meet the higher expectations I had envisioned.
Oh well, as I always tell my students, “our mistakes are where we learn the most, and that it is our failures that truly help us appreciate the special jewels that occasionally come out of the kiln.”