What I Learned From Ceramics

I took a mould making course in school.

I remember never knowing how my pieces would turn out until after they were taken out of the kiln (and I would spend several agonizing hours on each piece making sure they were good enough).

When in the kiln, many things could go wrong: too much glaze, pieces breaking off, cracks forming, or something explodes. All of which is unstoppable and hard to predict.

But besides all of what is messy and ugly, there’s also the unexpectedly beautiful. Colours finalize, blend, and the whole nature of the piece changes.

And to get to see that, we still have to go through all the steps and the time.

The firing process is dark, requires patience, and it changes everything, but it has to be done. 

We’ve just got to fire and see what happens.