What is a Second?
A “second quality” piece (i.e right below first quality). These are pieces we produce throughout the year that have a slight flaw but are still perfectly functional. They may be slightly different in color or glossier than intended- they might also have iron spots or a pourline. We discount these pieces heavily, and they are a great way to start your own Haandmade home. We tried to be thorough, but the categories below may not encompass every type of reason why something is a second- it is a tricky thing to decide, and with our organic aesthetic, sometimes something just doesn’t look quite right and becomes a second.
Shop All Seconds
Common Issues:
Pinholes/Bubbles
This is an issue where a bubble forms in the glaze or clay body and cannot pop and heal during the firing. They come in a range of sizes, and are an aesthetic flaw rather than a functional one.
Spots
This can come from iron spots in the clay or glaze, a splash from another color, or just pure, random chance.
Finish Variation
We take surface feel very seriously! We (and our customers) love a soft, satin surface that catches the light just right and feels slightly textured in the hands. This is hard to do, and is a big part of why we may label a piece a second. Most often, the “flaw” is a piece being too shiny, or part of the pot being shiny and the rest being satin.
Color Variation
There are several reasons why this may happen, from something as simple as a water drip on a piece, a splash of another glaze color by accident, or something more drastic like the kiln atmosphere not supplying enough oxygen during a firing.
Thickness Variation
We have an ideal thickness that we want all of our pieces to be, so when something is either too thick or too thin, it gets deemed a second.
Shape Variation
While all of our pieces have some slight variation of the rim shape due to the hand working clean up process, occasionally some element of the firing or the hand work will cause the piece to vary greatly from the shape of it’s siblings. This can mean anything from an uneven foot causing the piece to wobble slightly, to something that is just a slight variation in a shape from what we normally produce.
Clay Body
Texture due to all of our pottery being poured and cleaned by hand, there will occasionally be texture within the surface of the porcelain itself under the glaze. This can look like lines of rippled smooth textures or pebbly, sandy texture under glaze. It is purely aesthetic and does not affect the performance of the pieces in any way.
Production Issue
This category encompasses anything that deviates from our standards and best practices. A good example of this is when some excess glaze gets on the bottom of a pot, occasionally causing it to stick to the shelf. Or, a piece gets cleaned up too quickly and looks sloppy in a bad way, not the interesting way.
