2014/365 Day Art Challenge, not what I expected

Well, my things got fired and that anticipation is always the worst part. The end results can sometimes be unexpected, and that was the case this time. The glazes on most of my pieces didn't do what I wanted them to, and that is disappointing. Especially on my daughter's dishes. While the forms ended up OK, no warping and not a lot of shrinkage, but the glaze did NOT behave the way I wanted it to! Quite the opposite, it is awful, and I don't know if I didn't mix it enough or apply it properly or what, but it separated and shifted and it looks strange. My test tiles did something completely different, so it wouldn't have mattered if I had done them first and waited to do the bowls, they didn't come out right either. Oh well. Most of my ornaments were ruined too, but that could've simply been that I used underglazes that were too old. It was all good practice! I can't get too upset, this is one of the possibilities when you work with ceramics. There is a saying among people who do this art, "it's only mud." and that is sort of the attitude you have to take. If you get yourself too attached to any one piece, there is always the chance that it will get ruined. So if you want to retain your sanity, you don't get your heart set on anything. So here is how my daughter's bowls came out, just in case you were curious: On the plus side, though, my bear came out OK! Go figure, at least I got one pretty good one.

These are both glazed the same, but did they every come out differently!

The purple isn't quite the right color and it is beginning to separate.

Same glaze, but a LOT more separation, and it crawled a bit on the bottom edge.

My bear came out pretty cute, though!