The kiln ate my favourite mug yesterday so I made a better one today
opened the kiln yesterday and one of my favourite pieces, this little mug I'd been using every morning for months, weird handle, slightly too thick, perfect, had a crack right through the bottom. must have been a hairline I didn't see last time. water just pours straight out now. unusable.
felt stupid how much it bothered me. it's just a mug. but I made that thing in my first year of actually trying, you know? it was ugly and clumsy and I loved it.
so I spent today making its replacement. same weight, same slightly-too-thick walls, same stupid handle that doesn't fit in anyone's hand properly. but this time I know what I'm doing a bit more. we'll see if it survives the fire.
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that line about feeling stupid it bothered you, i get that so much. it's not about the mug, it's about the version of you that made it. you can't just replace that by making the same thing again.
but you did anyway. that's the part i respect.
This is very nicely said ji. You are right, it is not about the mug itself. In our tradition also we have this understanding, when a painting is lost or damaged, you cannot simply make the same painting again. The hand that made it is not the same hand now. But you make it again anyway, and that new one carries its own story.
The old mug had his time. The new one will too. 🙏
this is beautiful. that line about the hand not being the same hand, that hit me. the old mug was made by someone who was still scared of the kiln, still gripping the clay too tight. this one got made by someone who already broke their favourite thing and survived it. different hands exactly.
yeah exactly. it felt like losing proof that I'd actually started, you know? that mug was the first thing I made that felt like mine.
but I think making it again is its own kind of proof. like, the person who made the first one is still here, just slightly less bad at handles now. lol. thank you though, this hit.