Garbage in, garbage out

I’m terrible at taking pictures when there is stuff that interests me going on.  I have never seen a wood kiln turn an ugly pot into something of beauty. I have seen a wood kiln make a good pot better. Like they taught me in computer class way back when a computer was the size of my kitchen – garbage in, garbage out.

 I liked this little pot when I first saw it being loaded in the kiln.  Here is a pic of one of Jen Drysdale’s ewers from the kiln today. This little sweetie is buck naked clay with attitude.  Apologies Jen for the loosey pic of such a sweet pot. Put good pots in the kiln and chances are they will be good coming out.  This pot has all the elements of John Neely’s R. Crumb Keep on Truckin’ theory. Laid back getting ready to boogie. If it’s leaning back it’s got attitude. If it is leaning forward it is keeling over. I’ve never been a fan of the drooping lip on a jug or a pouring vessel that looks like it is self pouring.

Donovan Palmquist would be proud of how the kiln we built is performing. This was firing #15 and here are the cone packs back and front. That is Cone 11 flat with Cone 12 tipping and Cone 13 behind it. They were identical.