Trepidation Loading Big Pots

A window of opportunity with the weather presented itself for me to fire my big pots. The biggest one is heavy even after drying. With trepidation I slowly proceeded to load the kiln. When the pots are green they are extremely fragile so they must be handled with particular care and placed gently on the kiln shelf. I build up a small step to be able to reach the bottom of the kiln while placing the largest of the four. Beforehand I measure the diameter and make sure the curved portions are not facing the outer edge of the kiln when placing the pot.

To be sure the pots bottom surface does not resist movement before setting the pot on the shelf, I place some silica sand on the shelf where the pot will be placed. The big pot on the left foreground had to bridge two shelves in order to fit. So after my measurements I scooted the two lower shelves together to meet one another. Once I got the largest pot set down without incident I breathed a small sigh of relief. I am not exaggerating to liken this process to surviving a game of Russian roulette. With each movement and placement I am afraid of a disaster. I breathe slowly then hold my breath, then I set the big pot down gently, and hope nothing untoward happens. I exhale the biggest pot has made it down on the shelf without incident.

Next I load the right rear pot because it's the one which must fit bridging the shelves. Again I add silica sand to the shelf to allow for movement during firing. I must squeeze behind the backside of the kiln to place the pot. I feel my arms shaking for fear of making a mistake. Usually I have nerves of steel and I am wondering where this shaking comes from. At almost 70 I realize I'm not as strong or confident as I was even 5 or 10 years ago. Is that it, I don't know. I know it takes me several hours of time to make each one of these pots. The potential loss of time and money is a factor, maybe more for me than for others. I don't know. Anyway I get the next couple of pots loaded.

Next the third pot goes in. Upon picking it up though I see I have made a serious error. I had it drying on a plastic open grid rack on a counter due to it's height. I had propped up the middle of the grid with wood so it didn't sag. The wood had pushed up on the bottom of the pot and made a big S crack in the bottom of the pot. Whoa is me. I should have realized this but I didn't. I decide to fire the pot anyway and perhaps make a false bottom and use it for myself. Now a couple of days later I am thinking why should I waste glaze on a pot which I am not able to sell.

The last pot back left goes in the kiln easily because it's not as tall or wide. All is fired and turned out fine. Next I have some sanding of the bottom edges of the two large pots because I couldn't sand them when green as they were too fragile and large to manipulate. Then I have the glazing to do. Glazing will take some time due to the size of the pots and the fact that I hand brush my glazes with a minimum of three coats. Tomorrow is our last farmers market selling day. We do have one day the first Saturday of December for Kris Kringle and that's it for this year. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.