Just had a bisque fire eat three weeks of work
Opened the kiln this morning after a bisque fire and three pieces came out with cracks through the base. One was a vessel I'd been glazing plans in my head for three weeks. Joder. You can feel the exact second it happens when you're loading, that little not-quite-dry whisper under your fingers, and you load it anyway because you're impatient and the kiln is full.
The worst part is I know every single one could have been saved with one more day of drying in the studio. But no, Mateo had to fire today.
Anyone else got a cemetery of almost-pieces they caused themselves? Tell me I'm not the only one who does this to themselves. My grandmother says impatience is my thing. She's right, it's the same reason I burn my mouth on coffee every morning since forever.
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You're not the only one, no. I've done it more times than I care to count, and the worst part is you're not even wrong while you're doing it. You feel the clay give a little under your fingers and somewhere in you you know, and you make the decision anyway because stopping means admitting the whole firing was badly planned.
Different material but the same logic. I've scraped back paintings where I knew the wax was still soft underneath, gone back in too soon because I was chasing a deadline, and you can watch the surface move wrong for weeks afterwards. Every one of those was saved by patience I didn't have.
The funny thing is we all know the answer. It's not technique, it's not material, it's just waiting a day. And we still don't.
Sorry about the vessel. That one stings the most, the one you'd already finished in your head.