Result of First Soda Firing

So I stressed for days as the kiln slowly cooled. I tried peeking through the bung holes and couldn't see anything. I did pull out the last test ring 2 days post firing and spent hours trying to guess what everything was going to look like.

And finally I was able to open the kiln.

You get the idea. Please ignore the fact that most of these pieces were just practice pieces I threw at my week long throwing course up at the John c Campbell folk school a few weeks prior and many aren't really "my" style work. I really liked the results though there is plenty I'd do different. The deep reds, the lustrous quality to many pieces, all of it I loved!!! So, I count it as a success and I ignored the big (huge) problems for a day to just enjoy my pieces first. 

Yeah, sometimes I think it's ok to bury my head in the sand if only for a day, lol.