Today I fire all my Valentine's Day projects for the last time. The last fire on any project is always a nervous one. Anything can go wrong and in past cases it has. I must remember to always vent the kiln for the first 45 minutes. No ifs, ands, or butts with this rule. If I don't vent, I loose my reds and purples. In the case of most of the work in this batch I'll loose all my pretty Valentine's Day reds.
Overall I'm fairly pleased with the way my idea transformed onto the porcelain. In the past I have sketched out the mice for porcelain design, but not the actual color blocking. This time I planned it all out and I found that the entire project went more smoothly. Flying by the "seat of your pants" doesn't seem to work well with china painting. I think I'm ready to take on that tea set now. ;)
