Typically, when you hear that a potter found a surprise in their kiln, it’s a good thing.  You know, maybe a sweet shino, a luscious crystalline matte, or a blue celedon the color of a tropical beach.  I could wax nostalgic and talk about my first wood kiln opening and the sight inside of such beauty that it moved me to tears….but I’ll save that for another day.

Anyway, when Kath and I discovered this surprise in her kiln, suffice it to say it caused a scream, but NOT of elation:

Yeah.  That’s right.  You are looking at the biggest, nastiest, fuzziest spider I have ever seen (minus a tarantula in Costa Rica).  Isn’t that thing huge??  I spent a good 5 minutes debating what to do with it…seeing as it was already in the kiln, I was tempted to put the lid on and cremate it, but there were still more pots to load into that kiln.  So after a few minutes of debating (and maybe a few clucking noises on behalf of Kath) yours truly cut a piece of cardboard to trap that sucker in the cup and then I took it outside and freed it.  Yes, essentially I carried that thing outside in my hands.

Hopefully the next surprise we get out of the kiln is a good one!