In this episode of For Flux Sake, I dig into one of those questions that can ruin your whole kiln-unload mood: why plates crack. Plates are deceptively hard because they’re wide, flat, and they love to amplify stress—whether that stress comes from uneven drying, uneven thickness, rim compression issues, or thermal gradients in the firing and cooling. I walk through the usual failure points I see in real studios and how to troubleshoot them like a materials problem, not a mystery. The goal is to stop guessing and start isolating variables: forming, drying, clay body choice, and the firing schedule. We also hit two quick-but-important side questions: what temperature makes sense for firing terracotta, and whether there’s a vegan alternative to shellac. With terracotta, the “best” temperature depends on what you want the body to do—absorption, strength, and glaze fit are all part of that decision. And for shellac, the big takeaway is thinking function-first: what job is the coating doing in your process, and what other materials can do that job without the ingredient you’re trying to avoid. As always, I’m trying to give you practical studio moves you can test on your next round of plates, not just theory.