success..

I touched up the circle I cut on the grinder last night.
Washed the blank well, making sure to scrub the edge well in an attempt to avoid devit.

Balanced it on the mold and closed the kiln.
A spend the first hour ramping to 500F in order to not thermal shock the blank.

Old notes on firings are invaluable when you haven't done this in more than a year. I refer to the spiral and set the dial on the kiln and over the next 2 hours I crawl to 1250 and hold for an additional 30 minutes to get the form to slump. It's not an exact science, but close enough and will consistently get the result I'm looking for.

This morning I opened the kiln and things are looking good
( cut the pictures to save you space )

dream quote..

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.
T. E. Lawrence