I spent the last week in near total immersion, making mugs for the masses! When I worked at Winchcombe everything was produced in big numbers, production being how the pottery survived all these years (200+). Eddie Hopkins could make and handle 500 small mugs in a week!!! Sid Tustin made a million pots in his 51 years at the pottery! I’m sure that Ray has done the same. Where do they all go?
100 has been my number for many years but it is rare that I reach it anymore. When I first made pots here in Fredericksburg I was retailing mugs for $4.50 and wholesaling them for half of that! I had to make a lot of pots to get by. It was great training.
So, during a week of fantastic autumn weather I hunkered down and did it. 105 mugs thrown in a couple of days and then handled, glazed, slipped and decorated. Raw glazing means that they are ready for the fire now, still a month away, but nice to have them ‘in the bank’.
I’ve mentioned here before that I reckon that I’ve made many, many thousands of mugs in the last 30+ years and I’m of two minds about that these days. For the most part I am grateful for all the bills that I’ve paid by selling them and I genuinely enjoy how much pleasure that they give to folks. The ‘but’ here is that I sometimes wish that we collected something besides mugs. Everyone collects mugs. I do. You do. We all do. But I wish that there were more teapot collectors and bottle collectors and jug collectors et al.
Just saying…
And that being said, I still continue to find them interesting to make and explore. If I have a methodology for my pottery endeavors it is to take an old idea and make it new. More on that soon.
Barrel shaped and little round ones. 3/4 pound o’ clay. |
Variations on a theme. Nice shadows. Smooth surfaces are for future combing. 1 1/2 pounds. |
My one loss. Mug fatigue |
More atmosphere. |