I fired five new eye cups and two of them had the molded mouths break off. There was probably some air trapped behind them and the fastest and easiest way for it to escape was by breaking off the attached mouth (as opposed to exploding violently).
Eye Cup #7
Eye Cup #9
My second attempt at an Ophanim Pot did not survive intact. The first Ophanim Pot survived the bisque firing but the pot was damaged in the glaze kiln although the lid survived. This time, the lid cracked in half and the pot survived. I had originally loaded this second Ophanim Pot with the lid in place. After the kiln was completely loaded, I worried that there might be air trapped inside. So I took apart the kiln shelves, shifted the lid of the Ophanim Pot so that there was definitely no air trapped, and reloaded the kiln. I should have fired the lid separately. Assuming the pot comes through the glaze kiln with no problems, I now have a lid without a pot and a pot without a lid and the two are unfortunately not compatible.
