Babs

Dark spots are probably just carbon, and they'll burn out. Too much wax can easily overpower a typical  kiln vent.

It will just burn out when you bisque properly. I use candle wax all the time. A local church gives me candle ends. What it has shown you is probably your poor ventilation. If the candlewax is dyed the fumes may be more toxic.

Perhaps mom would understand, once the "technical" issues are explained to her, if you simply/honestly said you need to sell it in order to get the right equipment. Since it is new, it shouldn't loose  monetary value, and you can still affirm your delight in the receiving of the gift,  which will just morph into a different object.

Yes .c10 reduction . My kiln is as manual as it can get and is done strictly by color and cones.   Although Ive tried to get the firing time as short as I possibly could without compromising the kiln or wares, I still have plenty of factors that limit my control .   It has always been a fun friends and family gathering to fire our wood kiln but its a bit like herding cats.... weather has alot to do with the firing also. Decades of firing has taught me one thing. I have SOME control over firing but definately not  like a gas or electric kiln. But thats where the fun lies... the adventure of manual firing.  The adventure of herding the cats to keep the temperature rising  so when we finish we can get to the good food awaiting and the resting calm of knowing we accomplished yet another "successful " firing.

In my experience, MgO only contributes to opacity via crystal growth causing matteness, which in my book does not make it an opacifier. I would only consider it to be an opacifier if it can make a glaze go opaque without affecting the surface qualities, like zircopax does.
I have used several glazes over the years that will fire clear and glossy when cooled quickly, but matte and opaqe when cooled slowly, due to the magnesium in the glaze. I have also used magnesium-containing glazes that are perfectly clear no matter how they are cooled. It all depends on the percentage of magnesium and fluidity of the glaze. The clear I am currently using contains more magnesium than is recommended by limit formulas, but it's still incredibly clear and glossy.

As others have said, much of the glaze surface could be had by a speckled clay body. However, if I were experimenting, I would try using iron rust mixed into a White or off white glaze, you might even try adding some Rutile, powdered to a glaze white glaze as it has a tendency to make a more buttery looking color. . . then add the iron rust to that. When I say iron rust, I mean to scrape some rusted metal to get irregular sizes of iron, then grind it some to remove the larger particles screen it through a 200 to 300 mesh screen. Depending on the size of particles  you with to include in the glaze. Then comes the fun part, deciding how much iron speckling you want in the glaze. Lots of testing, but could be a great learning experience for some more advanced motivated students.
(For some reason or other, I got this on to another strand about a glaze search. . . Mod-Min brought my error to my attention)
 
best,
Pres

Reason I suggested deflocculated slip is at the same consistency, it will contain much less water and so less shrinkage as it dries, and thus less cracking, also what Callie wrote above re strength of bond.
Any mending will have to really dry out before refiring or going straight to glazing, I'd try one panda first.
Beautiful pandas btw.

Interesting! Thanks to all contributing to this thread.
My guess, given the amount of Boron in my glazes (that contain MgO), the MgO is (likely) all melting, early, per the previously mentioned eutectic.
However, fully melted may not necessarily mean "active flux" as in lowering the melting point of Silica and Alumina.
I'm still reading "refractory" as not melting/melted.
Words!
From "DOE Explains" article, "A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction, or lowers the temperature or pressure needed to start one, without itself being consumed during the reaction."
Chlorophyll (green in plants) is certainly the first catalyst I'd heard of; the bead coatings in catalytic converters also comes to mind - cars were being fitted with them some forty-eight years ago...
The term "flux" as used in ceramics/pottery for glaze, clay, etc. may be different from the worlds of metal - soldering, brazing, welding, smelting.
...err, certainly is different! Wikipedia has a nice long article on Ceramic Flux; MgO is listed.
The term in medicine (never mind!), math, physics, general state/status, magnetics/electrics - and more! - each somewhat distinct.
 
 

I would suggest that we do if fact know this is what is happening. We don't use oxides in isolation with just SIO2. From the Hamer and Hamer in the "Eutectic Mixture" entry starting with the paragraph that begins "Eutectic mixtures in glazes are not a simple matter of one oxide with silica but a case of each oxide reacting with every other...." then the continues for a few paragraphs down to "...would be a transparent, if coloured, glass."
In a nutshell what they are saying in Hamer and Hamer is the oxides don't work in isolation, one oxide will form a eutectic with another then once that is complete the other oxides will get involved in the melt. Adding heat excites the molecules as does adding more than one other type of oxide / molecule. Bloomfield also confirmed that CaO + MgO with SiO2 will create a eutectic that melts well below that of MgO + SiO2 alone. 
Yes. Excess MgO isn't going to be taken into the melt, just as excess Al2O3 (or many other oxides) won't be and will result in a matte or opacified type glaze. But the fact that we can readily get a transparent glaze that contains MgO does indicate it is taken into the melt and is acting as a flux within certain boundaries.
(@Hulk, dinner was a success, house was a disaster zone afterwards though!)

Wedging grog or other particulates into the clay will certainly help, but working that thick really needs an adjustment to the firing and cooling schedule in the kiln, too. And grog may not allow you to work the way you're used to or allow for certain surfaces you want. The simplest solution is to just work thinner. Get in there and carve out the thick areas.
Magic water is just the stuff you add to clay to make deflocculated slip, and deflocculated slip makes for a very strong joint. I don't think the cracks you've got here are a result of poor joining, though.

Definitely a thickness issue. Years ago, I had a student that made animal objects at home with our clay. They brought them in while still wet for me to fire them. looked at the pieces that were about 8 inches in length and 5 in width. Felt way too heavy. So I told them so and we decided on a plan to lighten them up without losing the form. On the legs, she cut long deep grooves and then used a child's spoon to hollow out the inside, then sealing it back up with a slab of clay the same thickness as the leg area, We followed this plan with all the body parts, and found ways to leave hidden air holes to help with drying and firing pressure. Drying was done over a two week period, and firing turned out well along with the final glaze firing. Years ago, but I remember it well . . . . especially the excited smiling face after seeing them being unloaded from the kiln.
 
best,
Pres

I also think it's a thickness issue. Make them half as thick, and hollow out the legs.

When I'm teaching newbies, I always say, nothing thicker than my thumb.  I think thickness and uneveness is causing the cracks during drying.
If you imagine a sphere, say 150mm across, with a thickness of 10mm.  The clay on the outside will shrink and crust over as the moisture evaporates.  The crust makes it harder for the moisture deeper in to evaporate, and as no evaporation, it can't shrink.  So the outside is shrinking and the inside isn't.  Tension pulls something apart and you get cracks.

You made these? Cracks  where arm is joined may be a drying, difference in moisture of pieces at time of joining. What slip are you using. May need to go for a deflocculated slip or "magic water". Solid legs , cracking where meeting body, again s moisture imbalance when drying. Might need to pierce the legs from feet up many times with skewers after making. Dry long and slow in a container. These have been bisqued? Can use a product "SPOOZE" or some folk use a commercial product. Need to rebisque
 

Note: Throwing vs Casting - In my experience, to carve holes through thrown porcelain, stoneware and earthenware is different than on clay cast in a mold. The clay of a poured form has less integrity when cut and carved, compared to the aligned clay molecules that have been wheel thrown. Thinly cast forms are more fragile both before and after firing. 

Dangit.... now I want to make one of these!

If you are touching up underglaze after the bisque then if not dry as rest of pot, those areas withh take glaze differently.
I underglaze just after trimming, spritzing the entire pot ,inside and outfor an even acceptance of the u.g.
I add frit to a couple of blues and a black. Not knowing the products you are using, I don't know if this is relevant. When I don't add the frit , the glaze doesn't "meld" with the underglaze, it "crumples" and crawls.
Rims are tricky for the moisture though, and grabbing more than their share of u.g. therefore.

It looks too thick, Some underglaze colours I have to add frit to so glaze performs as expected. If only on rims it may be that your rims are drier than rest of pot and underglaze doesn't attach , notnoticed until glaze firing often.

No it doesn’t, and that’s really foolish of them, IMO. 

Are you bisque firing after the underglaze and before the transparent, or are you single firing?  If you are bisque firing first, how well adhered does the underglaze appear to be before applying the transparent glaze?

That definitely looks like bloating to me too. If your clay is rated to higher than 1220*C, I’d contact your supplier. That’s not supposed to happen on an underfired clay body, and you may have a bad batch. 

So you've got a cone 10 ceramic rod, and over the rod is a series of 17 gauge loops that hold the ornaments? So the ceramic rod is what you're worried about sagging correct? The wires will probably be fine. The only answer we can give regarding the rod is 'maybe'. It all depends on how thick the rod is, how long the span is, how much weight it's carrying, etc. There's no way to know until you try it.  Worst can scenario, the rod bends so much that it falls off its supports and you end up with a pile of stuff on the kiln shelf. Best case it works great. 

We are asking if the wire is Nichrome or Kanthal, which is the material it’s made of, not so much the size of the wire. If the wire is Nichrome, it’ll have a lower heat tolerance than the Kanthal will. 
To be fair, there’s no mention of its composition or firing limits in most online product listings when I do a google search, and the sales language is VERY misleading. Kemper refers to high temperature in relation to a lot of their products that are meant for low fire. So “high temperature” also includes mid-fire by their definition.
 If you go to the Kemper website, there is a product labelled High Temperature Wire, and they do say that it will tolerate up to cone 5. At cone ten, I would not be surprised to see distortion. 

What kind of wire?

If you make a very thick slip, then make it desired fluidity by using Darvan or sodium silicate, just drop by drop, then with less water involved there will be less shrinkage. Too much darvan will make it go clumpy.
Also, spray your sculpture with a fine mist of water prior to adding slip to it will help also.