Adolescence

There seems to be a point when many of my pots where they are gawky and ackward - like children when they get their first permanant teeth and when they move into adolescence.  All of the parts don't quite fit.  At that point I feel like giving up on them (the pots, I never gave up on my children) and taking a hammer to them so as to spare us all from more bad work.  But I normally push through that point and give them my best shot at being.  And often as not, maybe more often as not, they come through for me or I am able to come through for them and they become something useful or interesting, worthy of keeping, of setting out in the gallery for someone to discover and take them home.
The pots I worked on today were in that ackward, adolescent stage.  I believe that three of them have made it through that and are now 'works of art'.  They are not quite 'jelled', the wax was still warm when I quit working on them and they may need a bit of polishing up or touching up but I was pretty pleased when I turned off the wax and put things away.  I'll shine them up and take pictures tomorrow.
I have five pots ready to raku fire tomorrow and begin waxing, using what I've learned from these early pots.  It's been fun and frustrating and finally satisfying.