This semester of ceramics is all about raku firing. I have been pretty happy with the stuff I've made thus far, but yesterday I made something that came out so well, I almost couldn't believe I made it myself.

See, raku is the least appealing class to me, because it involves a ton of variables and it also involves putting your pottery into a burning garbage can and then putting it in a another garbage can full of newspaper and straw and stuff, and then hosing it off. Seriously. That whole process is just really chaotic.

But sometimes cool stuff comes out.

I still don't like the idea of working really hard on a pot or some other piece and then subjecting it to a glaze that may or may not come out. Because I've had so much trouble with my glazes, that scares the crap out of me.

Apparently, this stuff comes out differently every time, and that just makes me crazy.

However, last night, my things were in the burning garbage can with someone else's things, and their things CHANGED THE COLOR OF MINE. That's like magic. Actually, that's like chemistry, but still.

Holy unicorns, Batman. You should see what I did.

Wait. This isn't the 1930s. You can totally see what I made.

Yep. I made that. Pretty exciting.

There is no way I'm going to be able to concentrate on anything for the rest of the week. Just putting that out there.

At any rate, I think I'm learning to like raku. It's still kind of difficult for me to try things that have uncertain outcomes, but I guess even the things I think are going to be certain aren't, really. 

How very philosophical of me.