I made a rookie mistake yesterday. I put the majority of my pottery in the kiln before it was bone dry. The result is all of my vessels exploded from the moisture contained in the clay.
The sight of my bowls in pieces was very disappointing. The bowls had been in my garage for a week which is usually long enough for the moisture to evaporate. The problem was that the garage was cold and dark during that week. My bowls and vessels also had a lot of clay in them.
I can usually tell by lifting the bowl if it still has a lot of moisture in it. I thought that the heaviness was due to the thicker walls. I was so excited this morning when I woke up to open the kiln. Obviously, I expected different results.
Not one piece was salvageable. Everything was broken or cracked. The lesson learned is that you can’t rush the process. I was away from home during the week that my bowls were drying, otherwise, I could have placed them in the sunlight for a while.
My kiln is very small and I was not able to put the last two pieces in it due to lack of space. I am now grateful that I get an opportunity to let those bowls dry out some more before I attempt to bisque fire them.
I won’t make the same mistake twice. This was a lot of effort, time and clay to waste.
Enjoy your day.
