The creative process is complete, the kiln is cooling. There is a quiet scene around the kiln as I wait to see how it all ended up. There is only so much a potter can do. I always have a sort of helpless feeling at this point, and no matter how the pots come out I will have what Shawn Ireland calls "the kiln blues". I think it is due to the fact that there is nothing i can do aside from grinding the bottoms that will improve or change the pots. The other reaction I have(always) is to look at what went wrong before I give the good pots a chance. It's my way of picking up where I left off in the creative cycle. With the disappointing pots, I can reenter the scene and interpret what may have happened and try to prevent it from happening again. In the case of an exceptional pot it's my way of saying to the pot, "What happened?" or "How can I make that happen again?". The potter's challenge is to repeat good results and resolve bad ones.
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