Okay, so it took awhile…
but I finally have all forty… err, thirty-nine… handles attached!

Handles pulled… then looped over so they can start to firm-up a bit. I flip them like this so that they get the curve established right away while the clay is freshly pulled. If they start to stiffen up while straight, they’ll be harder to curve later. Plus, they stand up this way… so no weird marks or blemishes from laying them down on the table. Once they stiffen up, I will cut out the part I need & attach it to the mug. The rest of the clay will go back in the bag!

Time to make the handles… starting with wedged clay that has been cut-up and formed into “carrot” shapes ready to be pulled the traditional way. I like to pull them separately & then attach them to the trimmed mugs. I also like the cool shadows making it like a little “clay-henge.”

Working on the mugs again… spending some time stamping the geometric patterns! Pretty pleased so far finding out that the new stamps are working well. Making the quantities as requested… plus a few extras “just in case” something happens along the way! Perfect for another MUGSHOT MONDAY!

All thrown… a very productive day!
Forty cylinders thrown to make forty mugs. The commission isn’t quite that large… but they will be soda-fired so I’m making a few “extras” in case some of them don’t turn out so well?! You know how soda-firing is kinda random… I can only “control” so much!

Back to making cylinders… back to making MUGS!!!
My favorite thing to make! Lucky for me, I’m working on a big commission project for a lot of specialty mugs! Here we go…

Today my summer campers trimmed & decorated the pots that they had thrown on Monday & Tuesday… some carving, some stamping, some colored slips. A few campers even went one step further and added handles to make their first mugs!!

Looks like the happy couple received their stamped & soda-fired mugs as part of their wedding gifts. A special order from some of my special customers who wanted to “spread their love” of my pottery by surprising Stephanie & Andre with “tea for two”!!!

As if a fun Stamping Demo on ZOOM weren’t enough… one of my ZOOM participants left with “a lovely parting gift.” I decided it would be fun to giveaway a mug to one of the people who “suffered” through with me to the end! So they picked a number between one and one hundred. The closest one to my favorite number WON A FREE MUG… stamped & soda-fired!!! Thanks for playing!!!

The NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR is now officially underway… and these two mugs were the first to fly out of my new ETSY SHOP!!! Thank You!!!

Be sure to check-out all of the Pottery Tour details, links to all twenty-one Potters & register for free studio demos today & tomorrow on the website… mine is tonight at 8:00pm!!! www.northernilpotterytour.com