Winter Break

This year my winter break has been longer than usual.   I overdid it in November and December, doing one more firing than usual (in December which I never do) and wound up with very sore and swollen hands.  January classes were cancelled and some serious down-time followed.  The rest has been good for my joints and now I'm gearing up to start throwing again.

Quiet studio, ready to go.

Before I actually start throwing I want to set up a light box for photographing the pots from the mid-December firing.  This cluttered disaster is the corner where I'm going to set up my photography station. Should be ready in a couple of days.

 The December firing turned out to be an excellent lesson in not pushing ahead when way too tired.  The kiln acted up for the first time ever and stalled badly, adding at least an hour to the usual firing time.  For some reason the back top of the kiln didn't even get cone 9 to start bending and then the front hit cone 14 so there was a combination of underfired, pinholed pots at the back and bloated, warped pots at the front.    The hammer was my friend as I edited the results - between 22 - 25% went into this 5 gallon bucket.  But that said, I got some of the best temmokus out of this firing.  I'll post photos of the survivors next week.