If only clay would not shrink; but since it does, make a rainbow ruler!

I love spending hours at a time sitting at a pottery wheel, throwing pots, and every once in awhile I throw something impressively large and wonderful and I'm filled with glee.  Then it dries.  And it is smaller.  Then I put it through a bisque firing.  It is smaller.  Then I glaze it.  Perhaps it is pretty, but it is even smaller!  It's a little bit depressing to see how much a piece can shrink from something of wonder to something of "eh."

To attempt to counter this problem and plan better for the shrinkage, I made a stoneware ruler out of the same clay I make my pieces from.  When It was relatively wet I cut it down to about 12" and put marks at each inch.  I then fired it, glazed it, and fired it again.  I let it double as an underglaze color guide since I have 12 underglaze paints.

The beauty of this ruler is that you can measure a finished piece with it and figure out about how many inches it was when wet, then measure it with a proper ruler and figure out about how many inches it shrunk.  This way, I can find a piece I have made and have a better shot at duplicating it or perhaps making it a different size.  My finished ruler ended up about 11 inches, post firings, so 12 inches - for my clay and with my kiln (there are several variable involved) will shrink about an inch.

Jennifer