Schtuff Happens.

I got another corporate order from the fellow that has ordered the same mugs for years. They are a lot of work. The bison, trees and grass have to be carved, the logo is another clay body added and stamped on. After bisquing the bison and cl logo are glazed black, then the bison, logo and all the carving is waxed before glazing. I don't mind doing them. He is a good customer, and pays on time and pays well. It is important, to me more than him I think, to deliver on time. A couple weeks ago I was in the studio when they were cooling in the glaze load when I heard an odd "clunk". I didn't know what it was and just thought it was something outside. I never thought much about, the music was on, work was good and it was just a clunk. What could happen?

 

What happened was a kiln post shifted and the shelf holding the mugs fell in the cooling. All the mugs slid sideways and into this lovely mug sculpture. However they are had to drink from. I lost 14 mugs on that shelf....bummer. My son thinks the melted mugs are cool, so now he has a mug sculpture for.... I am not sure. I have been loading kilns since high school and I have never seen a post shift and cause a shelf to fall before. 

I was lucky, it only took out one bowl on the shelf below and the rest of the load was fine. I remade the mugs and delivered the order yesterday. All is well. 

I had a customer complaint this week. I seldom have any negative feedback and this was a first of it's kind. I have been making pottery for decades and have thrown literally 10's of tons of clay into production pots and never I have I heard that some of the bowls leave an after taste in the food.  Not all of them, just some. When I told her it was impossible. Her stoneware bowls all came from the same glaze, same kiln load and were fired to 2200 F, she did not respond to the email. A few weeks ago she mentioned she wanted to order more pots, but now that some of her bowls leave an after taste, she hasn't mentioned it again. I think the only bad taste in her mouth was when she added up how much she spent on her large custom ordered dinner set with matching serving bowls and platters. I am not going to pursue any more orders from this client. 

The weather has been cold and snowy this week and it has delayed the transport of our modular to the new lot. We are not sure when it will be delivered.  We have people lined up to plug it into electric, water and gas and now perhaps nothing to plug in. Dang. Schtuff happens!

I have a studio full of thrown pots waiting to be trimmed and my coffee is done. Time to get to work as I am not quite ready for Make It.

Until next time. 

AKA

Mrs. Clay