SIX MUGS and a new stamp

SIX MUGS and a new stamp.

This is a picture of an impression made with a stamp my son made for me back in the day—it is carved antler set into a  wooden holder and my initial E is scrolled into the end of it.   I am going to use it as my potter’s stamp from now on.  I noticed when I looked at this picture how meek I am about doing anything that alters the thrown form.   I am so satisfied to have centered and pulled a cylinder and changed it into anything, I hesitate to mess with it.   As I peruse other's blogs I am so impressed with their work I can sense myself seeking to be more bold and audacious and manipulative.  Perhaps I am slipping away from being a neophyte?

The project of six mugs was designed to force myself to make matching forms.  When I view the blogs of  potters  who pot for a living I am always envious of their table full of matching forms.   I mentioned in my first post that I normally do not do things twice, I find it difficult both physically and spiritually and so am grateful this is not my source of income.   But I felt it was important to push myself and try. 

     While I did not use exactly the same amount of clay each time, as is obvious in the finished mugs, I did pretty well for a beginner at duplicating the basic simple form six times.  Only once did I lose and have to cut off the top portion of the pull, ergo the littlest mug.  Here they are, cleaned up and recorded.

      The Standard 213 porcelain is dreamy to pull.    I did find two little white hard bits of clay that hadn’t mixed into the block of moist  clay I just opened—one of my mugs is going to have a little hole in it I’m afraid...or, will it fire with the bonedry clay and just be part of the mug?

To make the handles I used a brainstorm that came to me in the night.  (Again, I apologize to whoever described or demonstrated this previously…

nah, I’m sure it was my own idea.

By pinching along one side of a cardboard tube I was able to make a form that just matched the inside of the handle of my favorite coffee cup. 

 I cut a slab and lay it over the cardboard to match the size of that handle and cut it into the six strips—two at ½ inch for the small mugs, four at ¾ inch for the large mugs.   I let them get to leatherhard while still on the cardboard support.  When the  strips and mugs were  leather hard, I attached them. 

 A bit of hand work went into smoothing and trimming I admit, but the idea worked.  I realized while doing that handwork that I should have done it while they were still more damp.     I’m not so good at pulling handles (probably because I cop out and make slabs instead of practicing) so this seemed like a good solution.  I’m pleased that they all look reasonably alike.  

Now that I’ve fulfilled my personal challenge, I’m back to making one of a kind pieces.   I’m going to continue work on my pitcher and mug with built in handles and see if I can make them more aesthetically pleasing. 

ttfn.   mec