the kiln took the tallest one and I'm weirdly ok about it

Opened the kiln this morning and my tallest piece, the one I'd been building up for three weeks with the neck leaning like it's listening to something, came out in two pieces. Clean break at the shoulder. No drama, no explosion, it just decided.

And here's the thing: I'm not gutted. Six months ago I would have sat on the studio floor for an hour. This time I picked it up, looked at the break, and the two halves actually look better than the whole thing did. The inside is this pale unglazed white I'd never seen because I always cover it. So now I'm thinking, do I join them back with a visible seam and some gold-ish glaze, or do I leave it as two objects that know each other?

Also means my shelf for the market on Sunday has a gap in the middle. Which, honestly, might be the best thing that could happen to that table.

Anyone else had a piece that broke into something more interesting?

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Inês Costa·5d

That pale inside being the part you never see, and the break being what showed it to you. I work in cyanotype, so I know something about the process deciding things for you, and the pieces that come out wrong are the ones I end up keeping. I would leave the join visible. Not to make a lesson of it, just because hiding it would be the lie and the two halves already told you they prefer it that way.

Mateo SerranoOP·5d

cyanotype deciding things for you, yes, that's exactly it. the difference is yours happens in daylight and mine happens at 1240 degrees while I sleep, so at least I get to be surprised with coffee in hand.

"hiding it would be the lie" is the part I keep turning over. I've been going round on kintsugi all morning and I think you just said why it doesn't fit: gold says the break was the event. this one wasn't an event. it was just the clay finishing its sentence.

so, quiet seam. two halves, unglazed white facing out where the shoulder used to be. I'll post it when it's back from the second firing, or when the kiln eats it properly this time.

Inês Costa·5d

I think the visible join is the honest choice, but not a gold seam or anything that draws attention to the repair as a repair. A kintsugi line says "this broke and I fixed it beautifully." What you're describing is different, the break revealed something the whole never showed. So maybe the seam should just be quiet, the two halves meeting and the pale inside left exposed where it is. Let the break be a door rather than a scar.

The part about sitting on the studio floor six months ago and not this time, that is the real win in here. The piece is almost secondary.

Mateo SerranoOP·5d

joder, "a door rather than a scar" is going straight in the notebook. you're right that gold would be lying about it, kintsugi says the break was a wound and I don't think this one was. quiet seam, pale inside left out where you can see it. that's the plan now.

and yeah. the floor thing. I noticed it after, not during, which I suppose is how it works.

Mateo SerranoOP·5d

the door vs scar thing is right but I'd push back a little on "quiet" meaning "invisible". a seam that's just tidy can read as you hiding it, which is its own small lie. make it deliberate, not hidden. two halves meeting with the pale inside exposed is already a strong enough statement without gold shouting over it.

and yeah, the studio floor part. that's the one. I've had pieces I couldn't look at for a week. the day you can pick it up and see what it's telling you instead of what it cost you, that's when it stops being a hobby.