The Oven Fairies and the 1000-Degree Surprises

Oven Fairies and 1000 Degree Surprises In my home workshop, I have an order where everything is under my control; the place of my brushes, the consistency of my paints, the light on my table... But there comes a moment when I have to hand over all control to the "Oven Fairies." Those who work with ceramics know; in this work, once the oven door is closed and that button is pressed, it’s not just technique, a bit of luck must also be on your side. Sometimes they ask, "What changes when it goes into the oven?" Actually, a full alchemy occurs inside. Those grey, dull, lifeless powdered colours merge with the glass under the immense heat above 1000 degrees. The magical layer we call glaze melts and brightens the colours beneath it. But in that high heat, sometimes things do not go as planned. There have been moments when I took out the plate I had cherished and painstakingly worked on for days, only to see it cracked along its entire length. Or surprises where the glaze has run and covered the design, the colours blending together... In the early days, I would feel great sorrow in these situations. I would spend hours thinking, "Where did I go wrong?" But over time, I learned that porcelain also involves loving this uncertainty a little. Kiln fairies sometimes take away your favourite piece, and sometimes they gift you a blue far more vivid than you imagined. Every piece that comes out flawed actually teaches us something for the next miracle. Every mistake, from the thickness of the glaze to the arrangement in the kiln, is like a silent teacher. Now, even though my heart races with excitement while waiting for the kiln to finish, I look at the result more wisely. Because I know that the difference between handcrafted work and machine production lies precisely in this "human" risk.