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Ceramics is impossible!
This mug blends the stages of ceramic production into one and builds appreciation for how magical the ceramic process is. That can help set realistic expectations for production. Consider:
- How can a minority of microscopic clay particles, through their surface charges and enormous collective surface area, bind a mass of other nonplastic mineral particles into something that can be shaped? Using just water as the glue?
- How is it even possible that a handle can become rigid during drying while the mug body continues to shrink and dry, yet no crack occurs?
- How can a clay-containing glaze powder, which must shrink on drying, stick to a smooth bisque surface and not crack off?
- Temperature gradients are inevitable, meaning different parts of the mug are not passing through the same stages of quartz inversion, yet it does not dunt.
- How can a clay body soften as if it vitrifies in the kiln yet still stand up and hold its shape?
- How can two ceramic powders, neither of which melt, melt if they are mixed together?
- How can a glaze melt enough to produce a brilliant gloss and yet not run down off the ware?
- How can micro-bubbles in a glaze on a vertical surface find their way to the surface, break and yet the surface heals behind them?
These things seem impossible or improbable, yet ceramics does them routinely. That should encourage us to understand the mechanisms, measure the variables that matter and build enough margin into our processes that normal variation does not push them over the edge into failure.

Created by Gemini is response to reading this post
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Tipping point
Why do ceramic processes seem to work for years and then suddenly fail? Learn how hidden tipping points in materials and methods can trigger production disasters.
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