Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Larger Mug

Some people started asking for this when I first started making my Ebonyware mugs... 20 years ago... the current mug sold so well, I procrastinated... then took a couple of years off from production, for a number of reasons... and now, do not have the equipment to make the turned models.  What to do?  Then, in talking with my brother Bill back in April, I discovered he has a lathe.  A-Ha!  Out comes the drawing I've had - FOREVER!  And he agreed to make me a wooden mug model.  YAY!!! Thanks for being such a wonderful and helpful big brother!

The beautiful turned wooden mug model - out of cherry!  Gorgeous as a piece of art in itself!                                                                                                                                    

The model and my newly made plywood coddles to make the framework to pour the plaster into.                                                                                                        
I took some photos of them as they were drying after a coat of clear polyurethane was applied... light sanding in the morning and another coat...  Plaster should be able to be cast on Saturday!  If the sun stays out, I should have a dry mold to work with on Monday...  I can't wait!

Hopefully the new coddles and the mold in the imminent future will entice my muse to return from wherever she has been hiding.  I am taking all the extra time I would have been in pottery classes and just diving in!  Well... almost all... I did take a bit of time to feel disappointed, but I'm over it now... I guess my pottery related creative slump is officially OVER!

My first few large mugs are spoken for already (and YES - I will complete the wish lists of others at the same time), including the Cider Mug Sale at the Clemson Arts Center in September.

3 comments:

Mishkat said...

We really like big mugs around here, so the large size sounds perfect! The wooden model that Bill made is, as you said, also a work of art.

P.S. the photos of the caterpillars and the parsley below are great! It's a shame that they ate all the leaves, but I think black swallowtails are worth it. The caterpillars are very beautiful too.

CHERI said...

This wood is absolutely beautiful. Reminds me of a woodcarver that lived here for many years but died awhile back. His carvings were awesome and we are fortunate to have a few of them. I so envy people like you who are so creative and talented. You are blessed! Those are some BIG caterpillars!!! Sorry about the parsley but you can always buy parsley at the grocery store....but the beautiful butterflies that are to come...priceless!!!

Higgins Design Studio said...

Thanks ladies... I agree on the bit about the loss of the parsley being TOTALLY worth it for the gain of possibly 10 new Black Swallowtails!