My cousin asked if I could make her a set of large nested serving bowls. At the time, I hadn't made bowls that large. So, it was lots of trial and error turning 3-4lb of clay into these wide bowls about 10 inches wide and 3 inches deep. The two bowls that I thought were going to finally pull through all of the steps resulted in S cracks after the final firing stage. I may not have compressed the clay enough at the base while throwing, or I could have trimmed too dry and caused stress in the clay. Clay continues to shrink after each firing stage, so you can find cracks after the last firing even if you didn't see them after the bisque firing.
For the smaller bowl, the S crack went all the way through the clay. I can use this as a wide planter =) The S crack on the larger bowl only occurred on the bottom side of the bowl without going all the way through.
Firing: Midfire
Clay: BMIX
Made Amaco glazes
