I had a week where every single sculpture I made cracked in the kiln

Last fall I spent 10 days making 12 porcelain vases for a gallery show. I dried them slowly, bisque fired them on schedule, and then 11 of them came out of the glaze firing with hairline cracks. The one that survived was a tiny ugly piece I almost threw away. Has anyone else had a whole batch fail like that and still made the deadline?

2 comments

2 Comments

jakel366d ago

Had a buddy who does ceramic tile work. He spent months on a custom backsplash for a fancy kitchen remodel. Fired every single tile and they all came out with this weird crackle effect he didn't plan for. He had to start over from scratch with new clay and glazes, worked like 16 hour days for three weeks straight. Got it done but barely.

alexc936d ago

Came here to say EXACTLY this. I had a similar nightmare with a set of handmade dinner plates I spent like 6 weeks on. The glaze completely ran off everything in the kiln and fused them all into one big ugly blob. I was SO frustrated I almost quit ceramics for good. Ended up having to throw out the whole batch and start over with a new glaze recipe that I tested like 5 times first. That feeling when you SEE the problem but you've already sunk so much time into it is the WORST. Your buddy must have been losing his mind doing 16 hour days like that.