Zen and the Maintenance of Art

It's a beautiful day to grind shelves, a task I have not yet undertaken since I began firing the new kiln, and might not be motivated to do but for an enormous soda glob marring the interior of an otherwise nice mug out of the last firing. I am not absolutely opposed to soda globs, nor are they always flaws; but they can be sort of crispy and bubbly in a way that compromises function, so I don't encourage them.

It would probably be better to grind and wash shelves in between every firing, but I put it off until today, when it is finally nice enough to do this outside. While not my favorite task, I can get in a kind of mindspace of thinking, This matters, too. This is just as important to the making process as throwing and glazing.