May 8

The kiln was open when I got to school today, so I got to unload it right away.  The teapot was on the top shelf, and I took it out first and the lid was stuck, and I was really sad that it had fused to the pot and would be stuck, but Mr. Mogilnicki whacked it a little and it came off.  So that was a relief.  You have to fire the lid on the pot, because if you don’t they could warp or shrink differently, but the downside is that sometimes the glaze drips and the lid gets stuck, and then you can’t use the teapot.  The two serving bowls and the serving dish were in there, too, and they all came out well.  The serving dish has some glaze drips on the side, but I still think it looks nice.  Then all of the little teacups were in there, too, and they all look really good! 

            I’m so psyched that everything has come out so well.  It’s almost unexpected that it would actually work out.  The one aspect of the place setting that I don’t love is the salad plates.  I made them first, and I feel like you can tell that I was still getting a feel for the clay.  Some of them are warped and droopy.  But I think that there are four that are good enough to show and use. 

            I wonder what I’ll end up doing with the pieces that I don’t want to be in the set.  Maybe I’ll just package them up.  I don’t think I could bring myself to throw them away.  Actually, the two salad plates that don’t make the cut might go in the trash.  Although I feel like the two that have the worst shape have the best blind contours.  Maybe I’ll turn them into some kind of a mixed media thing.  I could glue them to a board and paint it.  Maybe I could play with concentric circles or something.  So many options.  A deconstructed blind contour drawing would be a lot to take.

            When I got everything out of the kiln today, I set it all out on one of the tables in the studio, and then I got everything else that I had made and I put it all together.  And I just sat there and looked at it all for like ten minutes.  I’m really happy with the way it came out.  And there’s so much of it!  It’s really exciting.