Second crystal firing

 
I spared you all the details of the firing this time- partly because everything happened too quickly.I thought that I would be writing a piece this morning on 'breaking the vessels',an important teaching in Kabbalah and a practice used by potters who mess up kilns:I could see that the bottom of the kiln was too hot,and,concommitently,that there was a whiff of reduction at the top- both signs of a failed firing.Opening the kiln this morning,however,revealed a beautiful crop of crystals,which I have just spent an hour or so grinding off their bases.I am slightly flabbergasted by the results,and am off to lie down in a darkened room for a while.