R A C H A E L ' S - A R T - J A R S

the last of the spring commissions.

my friend, rachael, has seen some great success in her portrait business lately, and decided that she deserved something fancy to hold her art supplies in. so she asked me to make her 3 sizes of jars. canisters without lids. brush holders. whatever you want to call them. (please tell me if you know what to call them; I am drawing a blank here.) she asked for the paint brush, paint tube and x-acto imagery, and I decided to make them silhouettes, a la the AK-47 mug and went from there.

I feel like these pictures don't really do them justice; they are much better in person. I kind of shot these all a little over-exposed. still learning...

also still learning how to keep the cat away from my greenware (that's pottery that hasn't been fired yet, which means it's still slightly wet). and, well, still susceptible to CAT CLAWS. (see photo #4 below.) sorry, rach. simon le cat is not, however. he thought it added just a little conceptual oomph to the x-acto jar to have some cuts inside. and unfortunately at that point, I was powerless to smooth them out any more than I did. dang cat.

the small paint tube jar is 3.25" in diameter x just under 4.5" tall.
the medium x-acto jar is 3.5" in diameter x 5" tall.
the large paint brush jar hovers somewhere around 3.75-4" wide (it's a little bit oval-y) x just over 6" tall.
all of them have shiny turquoise glaze inside, though for some reason, it looks different in the x-acto jar. I guess it's a good example of how the same glaze, applied by the same person, in the same way, at the same time, can still turn out different. the wind shifted direction, I guess.
wheel-thrown and signed, april 2010.

T R A D E D (07.01.10)

B ' S - M U G S

the grand mug finale!

I think brandy was the first to ask me to do some mugs for her, and she offhandedly asked for about 10. which I was both excited about and dreading since, well, that's a lot of mugs. if it gives you any perspective, I generally make about 12-17 pieces per class session. but with chris abroad for most of the spring and me free to spend my saturdays in the pottery studio without self-imposed guilt for not spending my free time with him, I pulled it off. oh, and also because I knew b wouldn't care if they were all the same size. so I just threw a bunch of mugs and hoped for the best.

and they turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. actually, I don't have to: chris will tell you himself that he almost didn't let them out of the house. and ya, maybe I took a lot of photos under the guise that they are a large set (9 total), so I HAVE to post extra, right?

these are all approximately 3.25" in diameter and they range from 3" tall (shortest) to 4.25" at the tallest. luckily, b and her husband both spent some years in japan and have embraced the no-handle tradition... (if she had asked for handles I might have imploded.)
she also wisely choose the final glaze colors: inside some are pistachio and some blizzard blue (might be a new favorite of mine...) and outside they are liquid luster bronze, which has a slight metallic look to it.
wheel-thrown and signed, march 2010 and maybe some april 2010 too.

S O L D (06.2010)

B R O W N - L I N E - M U G S

(yes, there are more mugs.)

these are the “safety mugs” I made in case something happened to natalie’s mugs. nothing happened to any of them during firing, so I had two extras to do with as I wished. michael saw them on my desk, awaiting glaze, and asked me to glaze them in brown and orange. so I did, and he bought them. (thanks, michael!) it's been a while since I did any line cups in anything other than white outside, so this was a nice reminder of how they look with a dark outside.

including the handles, they are both about 6.25" wide (and 4.75" across if you don't count the handles) x 3" tall.
chocolate brown underglaze on the outside, flame orange glaze in.
wheel-thrown and signed, march 2010.

S O L D (06.03.10)

S C R I B B L E - M U G S

speaking of mugs, here are the ones ordered by my bonus mom, randy (chris’s actual mom).

you know how sometimes I have a problem making things all the same size unless I pay close attention? well, this time I paid close attention. and they turned out really close in size. like REALLY close. that's what happens when you use a ruler and give a shit... however, I have to admit, I lived life on the edge and only made two; not allowing for any mishaps. lucky for me they came out beautifully, except not how I envisioned.

I was worried about the glaze filling in the scribbles. on occasion, I bypass this problem by throwing scribble pieces in porcelain, which pretty much erases the problem (it fires white), but makes it so I have to glaze it in clear shiny glaze at the end (for food safety). I didn’t want these to be shiny, and I didn’t have any porcelain available, so I used regular trail mix clay. then I got a little OCD with the glaze, wiping it back a little in the areas I wanted it to be thinner and not glop up. evidently, I wiped it back a lot instead, and the end result is that the clay shows through. while it's not what I wanted or expected, I actually really like the rusticity of these. (randy, if you don’t, please don’t feel obligated to buy them; I will sell them to someone else. my feelings won’t be hurt at all, and I’d make some porcelain ones for you in the fall.)

both are 3.25" in diameter, 4.5-ish" with handle. (the handles are where they vary most in size.) but both are just under 3.75" tall.
wheel-thrown and signed, april 2010.
$25 each

S O L D (01.05.11)

N A T A L I E ’ S - M U G S

finally, here are the mugs ordered by my friend, natalie. she saw the BLOOD CUPS and decided she wanted two, in a coffee mug version.

these ended up being quite large, but who knows, maybe natalie and her husband, jamie, LOVE coffee. like REALLY LOVE it. not being a coffee drinker, it’s hard for me to gauge how much people might actually drink in one sitting. and, well, I know some people who just might be addicted. I’m not going to name any names or anything, but this reminds me: if you like good coffee, and you like the earth, check out grounds for change. owned, operated and devotedly guzzled by good friends of mine, they are doing it right, and sustainably so.

also, since we’re talking about natalie, I should mention that she’s got her own talents. so, should you be in the market for an adorable hand-made bag, check out her etsy shop, bubags.

wow. I am such a pimp!

okay, back to the mugs: natalie requested flame orange glaze on the inside of hers, and french gray for the inside of jamie’s. both are glazed in pure white matte on the oustide.
and both are approximately 4.75" in diameter, not including the handle. if you count that, they are about 6.25" across. and they are both about 3" tall, and stack surprisingly well.
signed and dated, march 2010.

S O L D (06.03.10)

R E D - A N D - W O N K Y

remember michael? well, he re-did his kitchen and needed a large-ish bowl to put out on the counter for fruit and stuff. so I made one. well, I made a wonky one and am convinced I can do better. so I will when I return to throwing in the fall. for now, michael has this.

about 9.5" in diameter and 2.5 inches tall.
the inside is pure white matte and the outside is ripe apple red to go with the new brick in michael's kitchen. I textured the outside with grooves to give the glaze some depth.
S O L D (03.2010)