Tuesday, July 09, 2013

meltdown!

Before I tell you about my kiln meltdown, I need to tell you that I will be at the Clay and Glass Festival in Palo Alto THIS weekend. Come and see me!


Since I'm about to have my biggest retail show of the year, that's usually about the time my kiln decides to go on vacation. Without telling me. Most people see kilns as an inanimate object, but ceramic artists know that kilns, in fact, have minds of their own and like to use their power for good and evil.

So, for the first time in many, many years. I lost a whole kiln load of pottery to a major overfire. My thermocouple, the brand new one I just bought and installed, was faulty, and not reading temperature properly. I just realized I'm blaming my kiln for screwing up when really, it's the thermocouple's fault. Yeah yeah, I know you are supposed to test everything, and use a witness cone, and blah blah blah.  I did not. Anyway, here is a sample of what I had to deal with first thing Monday morning:


Potters know what's happening here, the unschooled think it's trick photography. What happened is the glazes got so hot, it ran like liquid down the sides of the pots, fusing to the kiln shelf. If you look closely at the cake stand, you can see the drips. The only thing that can solve this problem is a hammer and a chisel.

So, how did this make me feel? Well, as I was unloading the kiln and seeing the damage, I felt a little sick in my stomach. It hurts to see beautiful work destroyed, and think of the wasted time and money.
But mostly, I just wanted to clean up the mess as quickly as possible, and move on. While I was chinking pieces of pottery of my shelves, I was listening to an interview with David Jay, who started The Scar Project, photographing women with breast cancer scars. So I'm listening, and chinking away, and comparing my disaster to losing your breasts to cancer, and I figure that this isn't even close to a really bad day. I know from experience that this meltdown won't even cross my mind in a month, so why let it totally get me down today?

Maybe I'm evolving, maybe I don't care as much anymore, maybe I'm able to keep things in perspective. Whatever it was that helped me get through this meltdown without melting down myself, I hope I can do it again!

9 comments:

  1. Yeah, I've had a few "Bad Kiln" (said as if to dog) days lately myself, just as I needed my reliable ol' friend the most. Didn't lose a lot, just the spirit to go on... You know? I'm usually pretty okay about these catastrophes, but this one, along with some sort of underglaze voodoo spell cast upon my medium blue, and I felt real sorry for myself. And my recovery was something like yours, thou not as succinct. Someone died, someone was seriously ill, someone was facing bankruptcy, surgery, or any of life's REAL stuff - and I thought, whoa! this is not so bad as it could be... Sorry about your meltdown and congrats on some hard-learned wisdom...

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  2. Oh I know that feeling!It just zaps your energy but you are right...it could be worse. Only thing to do is clean up and make more. Some how it is comforting to know other ceramic artist have days like this!

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  3. perspective... evolving... i have SHIT in EVERY LOAD. hang in. fight the good fight. you are still a rock star to me.

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  4. Mine "bad kiln" seems to always not work properly when I have a custom order running. So not only did I lose the work, but also need to hurry to remake a custom piece that will not be delivered late. Hope your show goes well.

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  5. Yup ~ been there too! I like your perspective....so true. We are blessed that we can just make more. Like your attitude and need a reminder for myself, so thank you.

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  6. Sheesh... just what you need after being back in the saddle ..dammit

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  7. So sorry to see those pots hanging there on the shelf like this, if it wasn't serious it could have been funny...

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  8. I thank you for letting me know that I am not alone in kiln disasters.

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  9. just installed a $230 S type thermocouple in my kiln. first firing is as I write. We went through and collected all the 'donate' bowls and vases and other homeless bisqueware and then painted them with our 5 key glazes. I put three sets of three cones 5/6/7 in various parts of the kiln. Now I am going to set my alarm to go out and do a visual on the top shelf cones, thanks for sharing your experience.

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