mafief

New mug!



Mom has a new mug type which is essentially a paper cup shape but upside down. She made me one so I could use the sgraffito technique to scratch out leaves and salamanders. I wanted to go for a forest floor look with layers of leaves and salamanders peeking out from under the leaves. I’m absolutely in love with this mug.

If you click on the image it’ll take you to my flickr account and you can see pics of the mug in progress.

I’ve made a few pottery posts this year, I’ve decided I’m fine with it. My creative pottery muse is having fun. I’ve worked on a few new mugs and sugar bowls.
(Ignore the small images. I'm not fighting with DW to figure out how to make them larger today. They are thumbnails so you can get a close up view if you want.)

I continued with the bee theme and I wanted to etch a bee on a hexagon sugar bowl. I don’t sketch well enough or confidently enough to free hand it, but I’ve got mad tracing skills. ;)


Next up were sets of mugs for friends. I’m thrilled with out these have turned out thus far. They went through further refining and smoothing out after the pic was taken, but I forgot to update my pics. I had different challenges this time, so it was fun to figure out how to make things work. The large writing mug was more technically challenging than I expected, but that was still fun. I had to erase a few times because it didn’t look right. The large mug with small writing was also difficult because I made this design before and replicating something can be tricky. I didn’t have the gitters that day, so I’m happy with how the writing turned out. The earthenware clay mug was the first time I’ve tried little sketches, worked this technique on earthenware clay, and wrote on a curved surface.



Everything is in the process of drying or through the first firing. I’m totally looking forward to the final products.

My mom and I are collaborating on mugs again. She is done with her ski season and has time to think about pottery. I have three mugs planned thus far. First is a honeycomb inspired which I have pics of below. The second and third will be of a new mug design and more info on that later.


The base mug before I carved. I spent about an hour smoothing the sides and making it square. For her first constructed hexagon ever, she did really well. (Note the clay smear on my mom's table. She's a very understanding mother of her child's creative messes. ;))


Beginning the carving around the handle. I like honeycombs and how regular they are. I was inspired by a partially filled hive frame and how they hexagons are formed around things. Carving was fun this time around. I had too much coffee that morning and was shaking more than I would have liked. Some rows of the combs are a little elongated, but oh well. The combs maybe look a little bit like snake skin, but I’m still pleased with the overall look.


Next are the words. I took a passage from LAST about Holmes and his beekeeping. I let the words flow over the edges so it’s a continuous passage. The writing on this one is larger than my other mug. I didn’t have as much text and it didn’t seem as appropriate to be so small. My favorite spots are the where the edge of the honeycomb and words meet. I like how flowy it is.


And I carved a bee. Of course, how can you have a honeycomb mug without a bee? It’s on the top part of the handle where the thumb would go.


I may have gone a little overboard with honeycomb inspiration, but I think the overall mug looks nice together. I generally like art that has lots of details, so this appeals to me.

The mug is currently drying and will need to survive its first firing. The outside will be stained a chocolate brown and the inside will have a brownish-yellowish glaze. I need to stop by the studio and see the glaze to make sure it’s what I’m picturing since I haven’t seen it in person yet.

My mom and I both adore pottery. She has been taking pottery classes for around five years and getting pretty good. Below is one of her style of mugs. The handle was inspired by a tea cup from Azerbaijan and she’s been perfecting it. The outside is pressed with Queen Ann’s Lace and stained dark. The clay isn’t finished on the outside, so the surface is rough. The lip and inside are glazed robin egg blue and smooth.


The outside impression reminds of letters from the late 1800’s on parchment paper, which gave me an idea for a new mug. I wanted to write one of the Sherlock Holmes stories on the mug, stain the writing dark and have black inside glaze. Writing on clay is not easy, and I printed the words instead of using cursive. I’m very happy with myself that I kept things relatively straight, evenly spaced, and of similar size. Choosing the story and what line to write took longer than writing on the clay. In the end, I chose the beginning of The Dancing Men, because that domestic scene is one of my favorites. The dots represent paragraph breaks and will be filled with red to represent bullet holes (which I realize is a little gruesome, but oh well). I even got the little dancing men on the handle, because why not. ;)

Pre-writing. The sponge keeps the handle from drooping.


Post writing. Mug will need to dry completely and be fired


Post first firing after glazing and staining.


I love how this is coming out. The writing looks great and is exactly what I’ve been picturing. It’s still not done yet. We are waiting for the pottery studio artist to fire up her gas kiln. She doesn’t use it in the summer because it’s so hot.

Lastly, the best perk is collaborating with my mom on this project. :)