Spiros

Glaze firing was a success!!! I think I should make a few more like these and not concerned about any air trapped like everybody said! Thanks everyone for your time, tips and comments !!! Greetings from Greece !!!

I'm not concerned about that. They stand really well on their own. Actually when fired previously they were layed down. This time they stand as they are in the kiln because of glaze on their dresses.

Ok guys my pieces survived the kiln with no cracks and no exploding for sure!!! So happy I got them out safely!!! Glaze time now :)

I dont think it would burn because of the lack of oxygen. I thought soaking the skewer with a flammable liquid like alcohol or petrol and then set it on fire but I didnt do it because even then it probably wouldn't burn where the clay was round the skewer.. well it's in the kiln cooling down at the moment. It's about 220°C so in about 8 hrs I'll know if cracked..

Thank very much old lady! I wanted to emphasize what she wears on her head. Clay shows you where to bend or put weight so it won't fall and I make the bottom part just a little bit thicker than the top at her head. The other sculpture is similar with a large top but even taller.

Thank you Rae, I will post a picture when glazed (hopefully with no crack)

I'm not too worried about the shrink cause a crack, because I didnt go through clay with the skewer. There was a hole at the neck that was a bit bigger than the skewer. I dont know why I used the the skewer, I just had it next to me and it was a fast solution to put the head back together. Normally I use nikrothal wire at different widths to keep joints together. I get cracks some times with thick wire when I go through clay with it. Hopefully this won't happen this time as there was a bigger hole there. I'll cross fingers and pray. It's a good trick load my works fire and stay at 100°C for a few hours to evaporate water. I do that when I want to make sure they are fully dried!!!

Guys thank you very much for the information! Explosion due to air myth was busted... I will let my work dry very slowly and hopefully it won't break the neck as the skewer won't come off and i dont want to put more pressure to it. I will let it dry completely before firing as usual. To be honest I never had experienced an explosion probably because I leave my work dry for another couple of days from the time I'm sure its bone dry. Hopefully it will come out in one piece. I will let you guys know when its fired! Thanks for all the comments and your time!!!

Thank you Min for accepting me !!! I always thought air trapped can cause explosion too.. so if you make a big sphere on the wheel without a hole, you let it dry and put it in the kiln, it wouldn't explode if all dried properly?

Hello fellow potters!!! I have a quick question for you. Yesterday I made 2 female sculptures out of clay and the air was free from base to the head so no problem exploding. The second sculpture though at some point I had the head nearly cut off from the neck so I put it back together with slip and I used a bamboo skewer to hold it so it won't come off again. Now that is half dried, I cannot remove the skewer as it stuck to the neck of the sculpture.. my question is, if i put it in the kiln when it's all dried and ready to be fired, will the head explode because of the air trapped, or the skewer will burn out first so the air can escape from the neck down to the base? Thanks in advance!!!