I am married to a potter. Potters commit their work to very high temperatures. When we clean our kitchen oven, the stove rises to 900° F. But potters need to fire the pottery at around 2000° when they do a bisque firing. That hardens the clay but it is important to have the pieces fully dried first. Otherwise, steam will form and explode the piece, maybe shattering a few other pieces, too. Then, the piece is glazed. It looks like the potter is painting the piece but the paint is a form of glass. The 2nd firing is hotter and changes the glaze coating into a hard layer.
The pieces need to be carefully arranged in the kiln so that they don't touch each other. The glaze can connect two pieces in a very tight bond, tight enough that separating them can wreck both pieces.
I put "shelves" in the title since they are essential to using the kiln but glaze can melt onto them and must be ground off. Shelves are fireproof and strong and expensive.
This weekend begins a show at the gallery that features Lynn's work and that of the other potter in the cooperative. Of course, each piece of pottery needs a sale price and a customer can read the price on a label. But the gallery is out of labels. They must be printed on the gallery computer, be a certain size, have a serial number and the price. Many other pitfalls have fallen and may fall before the show is ready.
