I opened up the kiln today full of work that has been clay, fired to 1000 degrees c, and is now ceramic! I handed a hot pot to my son so he could place it on a shelf to cool.
Each step of the process is exciting and full of “unknowns”! I had a piece with a very thick base that could have decided to explode in the kiln, but I was so pleased that it wasn’t the route this piece took!
Odd cracks can appear in this firing too, but I was so pleased to see that this hadn’t happened today.
During open studios I made a selection of little tools out of clay… little objects that I could use for making impressions with. Swirls and ripples that I stuck clay handles on… I tried them out straight away, and they leave fantastic impressions in the clay, and lift off the clay really well as they are so porous. A new exciting discovery!