I HATE Pottery…Sometimes
Okay, hate is a really harsh word, but that’s what I was screaming yesterday afternoon when I opened my kiln! I messed up – royally. I freaking over fired my kiln *again*. I say that in a whisper, because after I over fired one of my kilns about 2 years ago, I swore I’d never do it again. Same dang mistake too – something touching kiln sitter so it didn’t drop when it reached temp – cone 05. Instead, it turned off when the cone in the sitter was completely burned to a crisp. Who knows how hot the temperature reached inside my ancient Paragon kiln. I use this one to bisque fire work and while I think it’s rated to ^9 roughly 2300° F. So – did it fire to ^ 9? Quite possibly. What was in the kiln – mostly my student’s work from my after school clay class, but I also squeezed some of my work in there including Jean’s custom jewelry box. 
On first glance it doesn't look too bad…
After my discovery, I was banging around, cussing – I think every expletive known to humans escaped from my lips. Luckily, no tender ears were around to hear, save for those of my dogs. Then I got really mad – mad at myself, at the pottery gods, at clay and I actually said I HATE Clay out loud! 9&%$J K &*jy6% %HMK< – you get the picture. I don’t know of any other medium (save maybe glass or jewelry) that what you see isn’t what you always get. That stinks.
So then, after unloading work and salvaging what I could, I started to work on my shelves. Clay & glaze melt from the low fire earthenware my students made littered the bottom shelves. I had my hammer and chisel out banging away at my shelves all the while glancing at the custom box, ready to take the hammer to it as well. But, something stopped me and I went over to look at it again. I mean really look at it – turn it over, inspecting for major issues, besides being a fully vitrified clay object with bubbles.
Can you see the bubbled slip?
The biggest issue is that the slip bubbled on the side that was next to the elements and not really any place else. I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo of the before – but by the time I started taking photos of the piece, I had already taken a grinder to the box and popped most of the bubbles out of curiosity.
I sort of like how the sanded bubbles give the piece another dimension
Then I started asking the clay gods what I was supposed to learn out of this situation…. I’m not sure s/he answered me or not, but I really got to work sanding even more – exposing all the bubbles. I have decided to play around with this piece some more. I’m not sure exactly what’s going to happen or how it will turn out, but I wouldn’t do this intentionally, so who knows? I’ve already sent an email to Jean with my profuse apologies – she’s so nice and still wants a covered box from me – albeit not for her sister’s birthday. My experiment might turn out to be total crap – but I don’t have anything else to lose except time, do I? So, this is back in the kiln this morning with some paper clay repairs – along with a few other pieces from the archives that had “issues” during firing.
These 3 little boxes were also in the doomed kiln.
I’m pretty sure that I can’t glaze these boxes anymore – and they are pretty nice in their nakedness. I could probably play around with some cold surface decoration techniques for these boxes since they’re not intended for food. Both the ^6 porcelain and white stoneware I use fared okay at a higher temperature, unlike the low fire red earthenware clay.
low fire red earthenware house
Ever want to know what low fire red earthenware clay looks like at ^7-9+ ? It’s a nice toasty chocolate brown color and it’s sort of self glazing with a nice sheen on the surface. But, the lid is now attached to the base – and the clay deformed/melted ever so slightly during firing. These will be perfect for the garden or an aquarium setting.
Big sigh…. Note to self – pay better attention when loading the kiln.
~Cynthia
