Seconds are pieces that don’t pass our quality control standards to be sold at full price. They may have minor surface defects, color inconsistencies, or other variations that reflect the handmade nature of most of our products. Seconds items are still safe for use, beautiful, and authentically handmade.
*Form - These seconds usually come from our hands-on process, where we expect there to be a level of variation. These types of production flaws alter the pots from their intended final form. Examples of form seconds include slightly misshapen, warping, and irregular stamping.
*Material - These seconds occur as a result of natural material melting and bleeding through the glaze during the firing process. The size, intensity and location of these discrepancies will determine whether a piece is considered first or second quality. The larger a pot becomes, the more area there is for variation to occur on the surface.
*Glaze - After a pot is finished in the studio and bisque fired, it is glazed, stacked into the kiln, and unloaded by our kiln team. Each of our pots is glazed by hand! These seconds are created during this part of our process. When loading glazed pieces into a kiln, glaze can sometimes chip off, exposing a small area of raw clay. Even though a piece may be missing a patch of glaze, each pot is still fully functional because we fire our clay body to its proper temperature. When a clay body is fully fired it becomes vitrified, keeping all of our pieces completely food safe.
The Short & Sweet: Seconds may have small quirks—a little glaze variation, or a unique surface detail—but they’re still handmade, food-safe, and full of character. Perfectly imperfect, just like all the best things in life!
