Mugs, Jugs and Ornaments...I'm not going to say "Oh my."

This is really unprecedented; two blog posts in one day. Sure, one was really from yesterday, but still. See what being home and actually working in the studio leads to? I'm not going to say I have anything interesting to write about, but at least I have something to write about.

So today there was no shopping or anything to take care of, just studio time. I made myself a little list of things to get done and started hacking away.

My go to mug shape has a tendency to tip when it is near empty due to a combination of a narrow foot ring and a sizable handle. It is not a big problem, but I am working on correcting it. I am playing around with the foot ring mostly. I do not really want to make the handle too much smaller as it would affect how it is held and how comfortable it is.

Rob's go to mug shape. Note the large-ish handle, small foot and flaring rim.

I am also toying around with different mug shapes. I use the shape I use because I like it, but also because it is simple, uncomplicated. I'm not a big fan of complications. Thus this new mug shape is also simple. It is kind of the inverse of my standard, having a narrower rim and a wider base. I am hoping this will push the center of gravity low enough that I can use pretty much the same foot and handle as on the other mugs. I am pretty happy with how they look so far.

The new standard? Perhaps...perhaps...perhaps.

This is another mug shape I am playing around with; not to fix any problems, just to mix it up a bit. It is a fun shape that is simple, but also has a lot of potential for variation. If anyone is actually paying attention they may notice that this is the same type of mug I used for a commission a couple weeks back. Just a fun fact for ya.

Volcano mugs. I call them that because they kind of look like volcanoes!

And this is just another shot of the mugs that I thought was kind of neat. It looks like they are marching off to battle or something.


After the mugs I threw a set of bowls. Now these I am in a bit of a quandary over. I have finally found a bowl shape that I am happy with. The only problem is that they do not stack worth a crap. Ok, they do not stack bad, but because the bottom is wider than the rim they do not stack inside each other. Thus they are very tall when stacked and do not fit in a cabinet well. Hmmm... I suppose I will just have to get these trimmed up tomorrow and give it a good think.

A family of bowls drying on their heads.

Next came ornaments. I know it is a bit late for ornaments, but, well...I don't care. I made ornaments and there you go. I started out with eight but dropped a few when I was moving them...foolish, foolish Rob. These will probably be sgraffitoed (I'm not sure that is a word) and/or glazed as opposed to previous ornaments which were barrel fired.


And finally, I threw my first cider jug today. It is not exceptionally large (12 inches tall by 9 inches wide); nor is it especially well made. I threw it in two sections, using about 7 pounds of clay for each. I think I let the bottom section dry to much, though. When I put them together they did not really blend very well. You can still kind of see the seem where they are connected.

Shabby cider jug.

Construction aside, I am not really pleased with the overall shape either. It is too wide for its height. It needs to be either taller or skinnier. It actually was taller before I collared in the neck. I was contemplating throwing a third section with the neck on it but decided to go this way so I could get it finished. Now that I look at it, it probably would have been better to throw a third section. Oh well, maybe next time. I guess I will put a handle on this tomorrow and see if that helps any. If not it may end up going in the scrap heap.

That's all for now. I probably will not be back on here until next week, so merry Christmas & whatnot.

-Rob