No Pics-Ceramic Disaster!!!!

Well the best laid plans so they say............... On Friday after I got home from my day job I thought I'd get a start on the weekend crafting by firing up the green ware I had been working on after work all week. I took the weeks worth of buttons and pendants-some new designs I'd created and went to add the holes in the buttons. Normally most people add the holes in the buttons when the clay is moist. I like to wait until it's dry and then use my drill press. I do get a bit of breakage which I account for when making my pieces but I like the nice clean look of the drilled holes. Anyway, I put all the pieces on a tray and carried them down to the garage where the drill press is located. I started on my way drilling holes. I was tired after the long work week and wanted to get the holes drilled so I could get the kiln started up and then I could relax as is my Friday night ritual watching recorded craft shows and chilling out. I guess I was rushing just a bit too much and the jiggling of the drill press caused the tray of green ware buttons to go crashing to the cement floor of the garage. Just in case you're not familiar with green ware it is the clay that has been shaped but not fired. It is very delicate much like dried up mud. You can imagine what happened when the green ware hit the floor..........disaster..............almost every single piece I had worked on ALL WEEK was gone in an instant. Crushed....powder....chipped....unsalvageable. I took a deep breath picked up the mess and then headed back in the house. For a brief minute I thought I'd take a picture for this blog but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was so upset but tried my very best to take it in stride. There are much much worse things in life and when you put it in perspective this is really nothing. I swallowed my disappointment and tried not to think about it. I guess the lesson learned here is to take things slow and be extra careful where you place the green ware. Some things can't be rushed and I guess I'll take a lesson from this. I'm constantly learning from working with the clay. Patience is certainly one of those lessons as the clay cannot be rushed at any stage. The rest of the weekend was fairly productive and I'll have some new pictures to post later this week. By the way, later that evening I did reproduce some of the designs that had broken so perhaps by the end of this week I will be able to fire them and be back where I started.