the proof is in the firing

I had a moment of panic as my cups began to crack when I put a layer of slip on them. I began to second guess the use of paper clay. At the same time I tried to put on my artistic hat asking, "Now what?  Can I use these cracks or just slip wetter to avoid them?" I realized that I needed to see some fired results. When working in clay it is easy to get too attached to any one phase of the work. I have to constantly remind myself of the transformations that happen from wet to leather-hard to dry to fired to use. As much as I love any one aspect of material change, the proof of whether an idea will work is in the final firing. So I fired a few pieces to cone 6 (electric), print-glazed with our basalt-rock-black, just to make sure that the clay would look OK and hold up as expected. Now I can press on...