Stoking plugs

I threw the stoke hole plugs yesterday and on the suggestion of Michael Kline I added a clay handle instead of a metal bolt like I've seen before. Certainly the clay handle is much more aesthetically pleasing. Hopefully they will prove to be durable as well. I had a little bit of a scare as I came into the studio this morning, every single handle had split in half. The plugs are made of a 50/50 mix of EPK and kyanite. They don't really have much in the way of plasticity, and as the handles sagged slightly instead of bending normally like a throwing clay they simply split in two. Luckily they were still fairly soft and I was able to mend them. They are outside drying now and you can see the garbage bag I stuffed in them to keep the handle from sagging any more. Hopefully we can get them dried out and fired this weekend. Joe