What Others See

Maybe you've met my twice fired mugs.

Here's the story of how they came to such an ordeal.

The first version of these mugs went into a low fire kiln. And then that kiln completely over-fired.

Instead of stopping at a certain temperature, it kept right on going to high fire.

Sigh. Well. Here I had these unglazed mugs, and I was pretty sure they'd reached what potters can "vitrification." They weren't going to absorb glaze.

But I tried to glaze them anyway. I mean: one never knows.

When I unloaded them from that kiln...I was disappointed. I'd been hoping for the specific blue & brown I normally get from this glaze, and instead I found mugs carrying almost no color at all.

Want to know who loved them? Who thought "These are so beautiful!!!" ????

Um.... Everyone.

And I had a choice right then: continue to insist on what they should look like, what I'd planned on, what I'd hoped for, what I thought was ideal...

Or listen to everyone else telling me: THERE IS BEAUTY HERE.

You know what choice I made. Here I am making this style of mug on purpose. And now, all I see in them is beauty.

Makes me wonder what else I should be listening to. How about you? Do you see what others are telling you is definitely there?

*Currently available at Matchbox Candle Co.