What do you do when you seem to have made everything you can make? Make more! I am trying to stock up for the summer. I will have much less time and access to be able to work in clay over this summer, as I will be teaching summer camp.So, I have made a whole bunch of mugs. Mugs are always popular. I still have all sorts of stuff to sell. As I'm making things, I have to wonder if there is something else  that I should be working on.This is when I need to develop new products. My daughter, like all little kids, loves to pick dandelions, and other little wildflowers, and make bouquets for us. Where do you put these little treasures? they are too small for a traditional vase. So, I made tiny, little, dandelion vases.
I was inspired by a fellow potter's jar and made a casserole dish.
I also made drinking tumblers, for a cool drink on a hot day. The thing to keep in mind is to always keep creating!

Today I did something new. I wanted a little break from mugs for the week. I had the thought of making something lidded.  
I saw a really nice jar come out of the kiln the other day. It had a wide knob handle, and a high gallery around the lid. I thought it looked like a good lid for a casserole. So, that is what I threw; a casserole.  
The biggest tip I can give on lidded forms, is to always throw the lid first. Traditionally, potters throw the vessel, then throw a lid to fit. The problem is that it is very difficult to trim the lid to the right size. You either wind up with a super chunky lid, or an oversized, thin lid. If you throw the lid exactly as you want it, first, it us quite easy to create a mouth of your vessel to match the outer diameter of that lid. Do, you throw a flattish form with a handle on it for the lid, me assure your outside diameter, then throw your vessel with a flange in the top. The flange is where the lid rests. Don't forget a gallery; this is what goes around the lid. Since the lid just sits on the flange, and is flat on the bottom, the gallery will keep the lid from sliding off of the vessel. When they are both leather hard, you trim. There is very little trimming to do when you throw like this. Since I don't really care to sit and trim all day, this us a big advantage. if you, somehow messed up your measurements, you can still trim your lid to fit, at this point.

Here I am, on a Monday night; thinking back to my morning in the studio. I threw more mugs today. I will put handles on them on Wednesday. The last batch came out of the kiln, and I glazed them today. I am particularly enamored with one mug. More specifically, I am enamored with the bottom end of the handle. I have been putting "countersunk screws" in my handles for some time now, but their formation alters as time goes by. I have moved from two screws at the bottom, to only one. This has allowed me to change the shape of the bottom. The current incarnation resembles an old fashioned metal hinge. This works well for Squirrel Forge, it speaks of my time as a blacksmith. I really like it!

I am back again on Wednesday.

I spent today working on my handles, trying to enhance the idea of metal door handles. I still prefer the flip of a traditional mug handle, but I am toying with other forms. Pictured below are the two forms I am talking about. I also worked to clean up the underside of my handle, near the top. When I push the handle on, and make the two spot for my screws, I have been getting some… I’ll call it “flab.” That is not a technical term, and I don’t really like the word, but I can’t think of anything better to call it. So, today, I focused on making sure the transition from fat of the handle to connection point is smooth. I will illustrate this in my next update.

This will continue to be the “Sexy Handles” blog for now. Next topic will get a new header.

I have decided that most of my ideas come to me while at the studio, on Mondays. So I am going to move my blog postings to Mondays. See you then.
:-)