Here are some pictures of what happens to pots that freeze during the drying process. Luckily in Atlanta this does not happen that often and when it does is usually is not as brutal as say a Michigan freeze. These were a set. The one on the left did not freeze as much as the one one the right. As soon as I unwrapped them the one on the right started collapsing. You can see on the one still standing the ice on the bottom. I saved it by letting it thaw slowly, removing the water and re-compressing the clay. The clay is stoneware.
This is another that I saved. It is raku clay so it is a little more open than the stoneware. Slow drying, getting the water off and re-compressing the clay saved it. The frost starts at the arrow and moves diagonally across the pot. Most people said to toss them in the recycle bucket since it would be faster to remake them. I thought about it but then when you take into consideration all that recycling the clay entails it made sense to me to at least try and save them. I will post the end result once they are out of the glaze kiln.
