Pottery Diary 14/09/2026: The Second Night by the Kiln

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Every teapot set leaving the Dat pottery studio to reach customers carries a story of pressure behind it — where technical equations and delivery deadlines force the potter to trade with long, sleepless nights.

Yesterday, to keep up with the schedule for an urgent order, I had to arrange to use the small glaze test kiln to fire some more teacups, in order to compensate for the previous shortage. Recently, firing the large kiln for these tea sets has suddenly become a headache equation when the amount of damaged cups was too high, with some batches ruined up to two-thirds of the total number of cups entered the kiln. If the products were not deformed or warped, the glaze layer inside and outside was bubbling. What is worth mentioning is that the firing schedule had operated extremely stably from last year until now, and even though I actively lowered the firing temperature to control the situation, the result was still no better.

It is true that recently the clay quality is having some problems, but clearly, I need to quickly find the core cause to reduce this serious loss rate. Looking at the actual loss figures that the studio is bearing really feels frustrating: to cherish and deliver enough 20 qualified teapot sets to customers, the actual production quantity was no less than 40 sets, and the amount of ruined cups thrown away has reached nearly 150 pieces — a number too large for the effort spent at the studio.

Anyway, the heavy pressure ahead is still to prioritize on-time delivery, and then I can leisurely find out the deep cause when moving to the new studio. However, perhaps the challenges of this batch of goods still refuse to let go easily like that.

This morning, when opening the glaze test kiln door with the hope of compensating for a part, my heart seemed to tighten for a beat. Almost all the cups fired yesterday had thin glaze errors. The glaze layer, instead of being evenly matured and bringing out the characteristic metallic bronze color as expected, was too thin due to being too thin, thus only creating a dull matte brown color. More heartbreaking than all, the amount of severely ruined cups that could no longer be saved occupied more than one-third of the total number brought to fire.

Facing that situation, in order not to be late and affect the customer's work, I was forced to find a way to coat a new glaze layer over the old fired glaze layer and put it into the kiln to refire immediately. So all the effort, the expectation of yesterday was considered as going down the river, I had to start over a whole kiln of cups from the starting line. Ahead of my eyes right now is another sleepless night — the second consecutive night I have to stay up to watch the kiln.

Making ceramic art, after all, has never been an easy journey. Behind a small cup nestled in the palm of your hand, sometimes is a whole chain of unpredictable technical tolerances, and is the absolute perseverance during long sleepless nights to keep the promise to those who have cherished the products of Dat pottery.