In case I actually forget that I’m still sometimes a potter in this life…..
Just now getting back in the groove of actual pottery making…. Mugs are usually the first order of business.
- I like making them, possibly more than any other form.
- If anything actually sells at my sales I can usually count on mugs.
- Right now I’m down to an all time low in stock for mugs.
- I have a real creative interest in exploring these ‘fat’ handles.
- Mugs are about the most ‘process’ driven activity in my practice, so I have no excuse but to play around with shapes and difference.
- My mission of putting pottery in the hands of young art enthusiasts is probably most accessible with mugs.
- Warming up after a period of inactivity seems to work best with forms that are challenging enough to get my hands back in the technical groove, and variable enough that the rules can be continuously overwritten in the name of exploration and discovery.
- They fit better in kilns than most other shapes, so there’s always room for them as filler around other pots…..
- Did I say I love making them?
Peace all!
Make beauty real!
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CARTER GILLIES POTTERY 
Have you taken the 12×12 challenge in private?
You know I’d love to! My problem is that the real challenge in my life right now is to get off the computer before 12….. Usually I end up puttering around inside the house, waiting for the studio to warm up, and then sit down at the wheel for an hour or two, or applying handles, just dipping my toes back in as it were…. Maybe next week I’ll get the fire lit BEFORE my breakfast coffee and have a chance to do some real damage to my clay supply while its still morning….
Thanks for chiming in (and nudging me)!
Carter – you’re the best ! Those mugs look buoyant and lush – wonderful shapes and handles !
I love cups too – my kitchen is literally overflowing with cups from other artists !!
Thanks Linda!
Yeah, MUGS! My own kitchen probably has over 200 mugs/cups/teabowls from different artists. I love them all!!
Love those bodies. But those handles!!! Love those!
Thanks Joel! Me too. Gotta love what we are doing just to make sure it stays interesting! I think I could spend the rest of my days figuring out new ways to have fun with handles.
Such soft loose forms… and love the handles!
Thanks Lucy! I really love that the clay can tell a story. Its not just finished product, but the result of a process, how it was touched, how it was held…. And yeah, HANDLES!