It's never what you think it will be, expectation is beauty and the beast. To have expectation or imagine what a glaze will look like or how it might become after a certain trial of fire is an acquired skill when glazing a pot, yet when the pot is revealed after the burn, the expectation can overwhelm and destroy the seeing of the true pot. I always joke that the pots get better every day they are out of the kiln, at least in my eyes. For someone seeing the pots for the first time, the pots are "free of imagination" in that person's eyes. I hope that makes sense. This concept will always intrigue me, although today it is a real bitch. Tomorrow the viewing will be better, I'll take another look and I will begin to see the pots.
What all this means is that I spent most of the afternoon kicking myself and replaying the firing in my head trying in some way to explain to myself why the pots looked the way they did. I could make a list and lay out some theories but as I have written about before, my creative involvement is over now, and that's the bitch. The pot's will be fine, and I will be fine. Acceptance is required now and that which isn't acceptable will be my motivation for change in the next group of pots.
I am reminded that "the kiln is the teacher".
8 comments:
I thought that was really well said. That is an amazing pot too, my favorite of the ones he posted. Looks like you had a productive day.
It's a beauty isn't it? He's a clever boy, my favourite too.
Yes it was pretty productive, sixteen of those tankards although I only got four finished.
That man is something else!
I'm going to copy that over, print it out & read it every time I have pieces in the kiln. This is a wonderful lesson for someone who is as new to pottery as I. The pot is breathtaking...the insight, remarkable.
i wish i had his way with words. mk is the man.
Well, Well, Well, I don't know about the Kiln being the Teacher I think Michael Is.
When I first started firing my kiln I thought of it as more of the Bully at school, that used to pin me down and punch me in the stomach for fun, just because I was different.
Just Try it Now Wayne !!!
Paul, you're cracking me up this morning.
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