Sometimes the clay just cracks in the kiln, no matter how carefully you center it. Knowing when to let a thing go — that's the real skill, isn't it? The discard pile is just as important as the shelf. It teaches you what's possible, and more importantly, what isn't--at least not yet, not with the tools you have. I used to think perseverance meant gluing those cracked pieces back together, sanding down the edges until my fingers bled. Now I see the art is in recognizing the flaw, the inherent weakness, and starting again with a different approach, a different clay altogether. Maybe that’s not failure, but just…recalibration.