A couple of months ago John Bauman wrote a post about making mugs and I’ve had it in mind to respond ever since. John makes an argument for a simple straight sided cylinder with a turned foot and he extolls the virtues of those horrible diner mugs (the ones that often come filled with tepid hot water for your tea!). I hope that this doesn’t end our ‘bro-mance’, but I must wholeheartedly disagree! 
My pots are almost always about curves and the intersection where two curved lines meet. I make two basic mug forms: one is a tankard style based on those found in medieval European pots and the other form is a smaller round cup.
My pots are almost always about curves and the intersection where two curved lines meet. I make two basic mug forms: one is a tankard style based on those found in medieval European pots and the other form is a smaller round cup.  |
| gotta love the slip… I’ve seen this round cup form in lots of old pots…Persian, Chinese, medieval and English slipware, but nobody made it better than Eddie Hopkins. I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but I have a small series of slides of Ed throwing and handling 500 mugs like this in less than a 5 day week! The beauty of this little one is a full round outward curve which changes rather abruptly to an inside curve that flares out just a little bit. Someday I’ll write about the different ideas of ’round’. This size is made from about 3/4 lb. of clay and usually gets a ‘one finger’ handle. |
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| 18 ozs. |
This tankard style is the one I’ve made the most of…thousands and thousands. It has the extra added fun of having three distinct segments and I play with the different relationships between them…sometime the bottom bit is very round, sometimes more subtle like the one above. And sometimes the ‘waist’ is higher or lower. The handle springs from the rolled ring that I leave at the top. That little feature is one of the threads that holds my work together. I like how glazes break and salt attacks there.
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| This is the fruits of last fall’s labors… |
Because I see mugs as an everyday item and I make lots of them I would never put a foot on mine. I do give them a fairly thin lip…anyone (man or woman) with a serious mustache will know that thick rims can be dangerous!
Next Up: TeaBowls: Overhyped Juice Cups
