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We are in the final steps of something we’ve been working on for a while… we’re now in the waiting and prepping phase, making adjustments as needed, like this man loading the last few glazed pieces for firing.
I took this photo at one of the public kilns in Jingdezhen’s sculpture factory during one of my stays there. Every couple of days or so, hundreds of pieces are loaded onto the kiln shelves, then wheeled into the kiln to be glaze fired.
For people in ceramics, the final part of the creative process is often the most nerve-wracking. Once the pieces are loaded and passed into the fire of the kiln, there is nothing to do but eagerly await the result. After all the hours of careful work, the pieces go through their biggest test in the fire.
In just a couple of steps (after about 24 hours), these same pieces will be unloaded, having been transformed by the fire and thereby completing their creative journey. Where they go from there is anyone’s guess — perhaps they will sit on shelves in shops or, better yet, sent off to grace the spaces of businesses and homes.
I’m definitely eager to push things ahead and get things moving with our pet project, but I’m learning to be patient for just a little longer so we can put our best effort forward.
In a few more steps, we’ll be ready to allow others to sneak a peek at what we’ve been up to. From there, we have no clue where the idea will take us. To most people, it may not seem like much. But for me and my hubby, it represents many days and nights of hard work! I think the sense of accomplishment of having completed a project will be enough to tide us over for a while ; )
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