How a commission works
Choose your blank
Pick the vessel your image will live on. Not sure? Tell us the picture first — we’ll suggest the shape that flatters it most.
Blue-and-white, or colour?
青花 qinghua — cobalt blue under the glaze, the classic thousand-year look. 彩绘 enamels — a full palette painted over the glaze, softer and pictorial. Firing and price differ slightly; we’ll advise which suits your image.
Show us the idea — AI helps
A picture says more than a hundred messages. If your idea lives only in your head, tools like ChatGPT Image or Google Gemini can sketch it out in minutes — we wrote a short guide with ready-made prompts to copy. AI only helps you describe it; the porcelain itself is always painted by hand.
learn how: turn your idea into a picture →Take your time, then lock it in
Before any money moves, we talk — as long as you like. Share the picture, the occasion, the feeling you want; ask us anything. When the brief feels exactly right to both of us, you get one all-in price (piece, painting, wood firing, shipping). Payment simply books your kiln slot and lets one painter carry your piece through without interruption.
the brief is settled together before payment — afterwards it stays fixed, so nothing driftsYou approve the sketch
Before any brush touches porcelain you receive the composition sketch — how your image sits on the chosen shape. Small layout tweaks are welcome here; the locked brief itself stays as ordered.
Painting, stroke by stroke
Days at the bench. Your image goes onto the blank in cobalt or enamel, one loaded brush at a time — porcelain absorbs the pigment instantly, so every line must land right the first time. No decals, no printing, no undo.
Glazing — the painting disappears
The piece is dipped into a bath of raw glaze and your image vanishes under a chalky white skin. It looks alarming; it is exactly right. Only fire can turn that skin to glass and bring the colour back — deeper than it went in.
Days in the wood kiln
Pine feeds the firebox hour after hour until the chamber passes 1,300 °C, then the kiln cools as slowly as it heated. Flame and ash sweep across the glaze and leave marks no electric kiln can imitate — two pieces never come out the same. Watch the whole journey on The Craft page →
Home to you
We send you photos and video of the finished piece, then it travels double-boxed, tracked door-to-door, to any address in the world. If the courier breaks it, we repaint and refire a new one at our cost.
Start with one message
Send your picture straight to a painter. We reply in English or Chinese, within three working days — usually much faster.
prefer email? [email protected] · or the form on the contact page
Small print, hand-written
Can I change my mind after paying?
No — payment locks the brief. Your kiln slot is booked, materials are committed and a painter is assigned, so subject, shape and style stay as ordered. You still approve the composition sketch before painting begins. That’s why steps 1–4 are all about talking it through — take as long as you need before you pay.
How much does a commission cost?
It depends on size, complexity and palette. A single hand-painted plate starts lower than you’d guess; a large vase with a detailed scene costs more. Send your picture and you’ll have a firm number in three days — quoting is always free.
How long will it take?
Typically 2–5 weeks from approved sketch to approved photos, plus shipping. Wood-kiln firings run on the kiln’s schedule, not ours — we’d rather be honest than fast.
What can you paint? What can’t you?
Pets, portraits, houses, landscapes, wedding scenes, company logos, a child’s drawing reproduced exactly — almost anything. We’ll tell you honestly in the sketch phase if something won’t translate well to cobalt or enamel.
Is every piece really painted by hand?
Yes — no decals, no transfers, no printing, ever. That’s the whole point of the studio. You can ask for work-in-progress photos and we’ll happily send them.