I packed and fired my first kiln load of work this week.

I have packed and fired heaps of kiln loads of work at the Polytechnic but I have always had my tutors or the technician there to call on for last minute advice and a final check over before the kiln is locked down and switched on.

This time I was totally on my own.

It was exhilarating and nerve wracking at the same time.

There was about eight weeks worth of work in the one firing and if anything had gone wrong I would have had to start again from scratch.

This first firing is called a bisque firing. You wait until all the work has dried out and then you pack it into the kiln and fire it to 1000 degrees Centigrade (1832 F) It is in this initial firing that work can explode, crack or shatter. If I hadn’t packed the shelves properly, they could have collapsed. The potential for disaster is really quite high and I have been a tad nervous for the past couple of days.

I opened the kiln this morning to have a quick look and all the work has survived.

YAY!

So in order to celebrate and to share the anticipation I am going to have a give-away.

I will give away 2 tall cups that I will fire sometime over the Easter Break. The cups will be similar to these but you get to choose the colour of the highlight. They can also be all white or all one colour. Your choice.

Here are the rules.

Anyone can enter.

Simply leave me a comment telling me what colour you would like.

You must click on the friend connect thingy on the sidebar in order to be eligible to win.

You can enter once a day for the duration of the giveaway.

Entries will close at 9pm on Easter Saturday, Australian Time.

That is it.

Easy Peasy.

Good Luck.

*UPDATED *

If you tweet this post for me I will add in another entry for you.

Updated Again. Comments are now closed.

I will announce the winner tomorrow, Easter Sunday.

Good Luck everyone.