Low fire fire....

Here's the low fire kiln, just opened - it's still pretty warm in there, but the student pieces turned out well. The students in the summer class were a good group, with all showing talent in some area or another. Many had an eye for color, as can be seen here. I did some glaze experiments with abandoned student pots from a few semesters ago, and started up the Cone 5 firing. Didn't get it started until 12:15, so I am going to wait until Thursday to go in and unload it - I know it will take longer to cool than the Cone 05 kiln did. After spending so many years doing therapy, part of why pottery is so satisfying to me is simply the concrete products that are the result of all that work. When the kiln is unloaded, there is the result - pieces you can hold in your hand, and see immediately if the pot is intact, if the handles are firmly attached, if the glaze melted the way you planned, and the overall effect is pleasing and centered, or out of balance in some way. See how I use the same vocabulary I used to in therapy, but now applied to tangible bits of burned earth and colored glass, instead of to people's subjective internal experience and objective presentation to the world? My lama would tell me I am analyzing too much, again. It's all just celebratory display of the unitary awareness that is existence in this moment, and I need to analyze less and love more. "Love this world" the lama says. I believe I will make a pot with that on it.