Sometimes I need to learn to say "No". When I got a phone call from a customer asking for a tea service for the top table for her wedding I had a feeling I should say no, but I hate turning work away.
We had to order the teacups & saucer moulds which is not easy in July when the Potteries in Stoke have just recovered from the Potters Holiday in June & are about to go off on the factory fortnight holidays. I managed to track down a nice mould so I thought the biggest problem was over.
Time was very short as they had to be finished in less than a month. So instead of having a few extra days in the caravan with our girls we came home from Shrewsbury Flower show & I got started. I always take longer on orders especially when I am painting flowers from the wedding bouquet which I had never done before. I managed to get them all done & there were only a few items which needed re- firing.
We have had a problem with delayed grazing on some items this year since we changed our slip so I tested the tea set with boiling water, they all seemed okay, I was over the moon. Until the next day when nearly all of the nine saucers & some teacups had small cracks in the glaze. I felt like giving ceramics up that day I have never been so fed up. I was so low I could not face redoing the order, I emailed the customer & offered her all the tea service for free, it was all personalized so I could not sell it as seconds & I felt like I could not charge her for only part of the order. We did re-fire them so I don't know if they have been okay since.
We have since had tests done on the kiln & found that our temperatures were not high enough. We have brought a new kiln & we are now soaking the green ware for longer so hopefully the worst is over. At least it makes me realise the small problems we have everyday with the ceramics are not so bad after all.
