Fatal Attractions

I guess it was bound to happen sometime...well, maybe not. But it will guarantee it never happens again.

I'm not sure if it was coincidence, or a direct result of, or just a bad omen. But last night while firing the kiln, we heard something ceramic fall to the floor. My hubby asked if something blew up in the kiln if we would hear it. I replied that Yes, we would, but it would be more of a "pop" sound WITHIN the kiln, not something dropping to the floor.

Turns out it was just one of the peep-hole plugs. So I stuck it back in, and felt very relieved, mostly. But part of me was still a tad worried about things....

Last evening we were watching a show on television called "Fatal Attractions". It featured various people who fell in love with wild large cats, such as lions or tigers, and kept them as pets, and eventually the cat either killed them, someone else, or had to be put down due to its wild nature not fitting in with the context it was living in. In many of the cases, the owner of the animal made just one mistake...but that mistake was all it took for a devastating outcome.

Turns out I was playing with fire as well. Lately I've been pushing the limits as to how thick things are that I make and decide not to carve out. I've heard an inch is a good rule of thumb. So the other night, I made about 10 little creatures about an inch thick that I planned on firing the next day if I could get them dry enough. (Mistake number one....) My daughter also happened to make a thick Christmas tree, which I really SHOULD have carved out, but due to the fact that I was very tired (I stayed up late for other last minute projects), and I had fired other stuff some-what thick, I took a risk.

It's a risk I'll never take again. I woke up, opened up the kiln, and discovered some wayward pieces of bisque-looking chunks on the top shelve where I had my glazed objects. I could figure out where they came from until I glanced down to the bottom of the kiln and saw several more fragments scattered about, and then it hit me - I finally crossed the line and blew something (or things) up in my kiln.

The tree didn't survive, nor did 4 out of my 10 little creatures. On top of that, a Christmas gift I intended didn't quite turn out as I had hoped, so I'll have to think of a way to fix that, as well.

Overall, I know it's not a huge deal. But it could have been prevented. How many times have I mentioned that you must carve out your clay? How many times have I carved out something I didn't want to because I was tired and ready to be done with clay for the day? And yet here I am. I took a chance, and I learned my lesson. No more playing with the limits in this regard again...