A minor dilemma

Sometimes in ceramics we're faced with little dilemmas.."should I fire this lid in place and risk the glaze running off, or should I fire it separately, and risk it warping?" Yesterday, I was only firing to cone five, so I decided to place the lid of this carved box on the kiln shelf, as I didn't think the temperature would be high enough to warp it.



(btw, I've hidden the warp on this photo)


Wrong decision! Turns out the temperature wasn't high enough to make the glaze run, but the lid warped very slightly, so it no longer fits perfectly. Not by very much, but enough to be annoyingly noticeable. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and now I'm kicking myself, realising that in this case, leaving the lid in place was most likely the sensible option.

Having said that, it's possible that it would have warped anyway, who knows. I'll try firing it again with the lid on and see if it settles down.

Here is another piece from the same firing:

Carved vase, approx 6 inches tall

This high manganese glaze was fired to cone 5 and has come out nicely with an even black colour and fairly shiny surface. Ideally, I would like to fire this glaze a little higher, between cone 5 and 6, but it's very difficult to judge accurately without a pyrometer.

Never give up..the best is yet to come!