Last night during my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I had my students do a little trimming challenge. Taking their “perfect” three pound bowl from last week’s class and trimming the “perfect” footring on the bottom… making it an even “perfect-ER” bowl! We were also looking for a more refined & even wall thickness from top to bottom… giving them a chance to take off some of the extra weight they may have left at the bottom while throwing.

Out of curiosity, we also weighed them all before & after to see how much clay they trimmed off… or at least they thought that was why we were weighing their bowls!!! HA!!! More to come…

Just another batch of hybrid mugs done & drying… waiting for a bisque kiln some time soon!

One last thing before they dry… I added a layer of colored flashing slip to my batch of hybrid mugs. At some point, these mugs will be soda-fired so they should change to shades of oranges & yellows during the atmospheric firing.

Handles pulled & resting… well, setting up & firming a bit before I start attaching them to make more mugs! I like to loop them over & stand them up so they can “stiffen” a bit with a good curve already established before attaching.

Getting ready to pull some handles again!!!
The more you do, the easier they get… just sayin’…

Accents painted & done! These mugs will be bisqued & then soda-fired. So they will not get any glaze on the exterior except for a little tenmoku in each stamped impression. The raw clay & colored flashing slips will transform in the kiln due to the firing process creating a nice “glazed” shine & flashing effects. Each one totally different based on where the flames hit it during the soda firing.

Just painting some details with colored flashing slips today. These areas will change colors in an upcoming soda firing kiln. These two should have accents of orange when this slip reacts to the soda atmosphere. Fingers crossed…

Handles attached… we now “officially” have mugs!!!

I’m a firm believer that by definition a “mug” needs a handle!
While some of my students might try to convince me otherwise… I’m not buyin’ it!!!

Another day pulling handles & making mugs!!!
My favorite thing to make… MUGS!

And for now they’re all going back under plastic so they can dry slightly to leatherhard clay. Then it’s trimming & adding of handles… and soon enough, these will become mugs!!!