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so I threw this tiny porcelain cup a few days ago, really thin walls, nice shape, felt good on the wheel. opened the kiln this morning and it's completely warped, not just a little oval, I mean it's leaning like a drunk person at 3am. the rim is basically a sine wave. at first I was annoyed because I was trying to be delicate and precise and it just laughed at me. but now I've been staring at it for like twenty minutes and honestly? it's kind of alive? it's doing something my perfectly straight cups never do. I'm trying to decide if I should lean into it and glaze it weird or just crush it and try again. my instinct says crush it but my gut says wait. the kiln chooses lol. anyone ever kept a "failure" that ended up being the thing people liked most?

ok so I've been undercharging for literally years. selling my little handbuilt cups for €25, small wall pieces for €60, telling myself I can't ask for more because I'm still learning and who am I etc etc. finally just... raised everything. cups at €35 now, wall pieces at €80. I did the math on a single piece the other day, €25 cup, took me about 2 hours from wedging to glaze, plus firing costs, plus the ones that crack or warp in the bisque. I was basically paying myself €6 an hour and pretending that was fine. raised prices on my online shop and at the last market. nobody said a word. same people buying, same compliments. one woman even said "oh that's all?" about a piece I was nervous to price. now I'm mad I didn't do it a year ago. what are we even doing out here, giving away our time for free?

There's a cardboard box under my worktable. It's got failed joints, pieces that warped wrong, a glass bottle I spent three days cutting that finally just shattered. Also a few things that worked fine but I hated anyway. Before I start anything new I pull it out and go through it. Not for inspiration. More like a reminder that most of what you make is going to end up wrong or abandoned or just okay. Clears the head somehow. I don't try again with the same stuff, I just touch the failures and then I'm ready to make new ones.