I'm a girl who loves her chai on mornings... so getting the opportunity to make my own mugs was quite a treat.
The best part was using thyme leaves from my mum's garden to make impressions in the clay.
“Nature is the inspiration for all ornamentation.” - Frank Lloyd Wright
KaransPotsAndGlass had amazing step-by-step videos on how to make slab mugs. Her instructions were very helpful and easy to follow. From her videos, I documented in my journal how to create a classic conical mug, a darted mug, and a bellied-out conical mug. She also demonstrated an easy way to make "fake" pulled handles.
Creating slab mugs (Step by Step):
Conical mug (classic & Bellied)
1. I started the process by creating some templates. I downloaded a conical template from KaransPotsAndGlass to use as my base template, and also used plain paper to create a simple rectangular template to use for my square darted mug.
2. I began by wedging my clay and rolling out my clay using my DIY slab sticks as a guide. After that I ribbed my clay. According to Karan, this helps to strengthen the clay by compressing it.
3. A pro tip that I researched is to lightly dust corn starch on the clay before adding any texture. The corn starch burns off in the kiln and helps for whatever you are texturing not to stick to the clay.
4. I took various leaves from my mum's garden and rolled them on a scrap piece of clay.
I showed my mum the impressions and she agreed that the thyme leaves left a wonderful pattern. I was definitely thinking of the artiste, Ambika Shankar, while exploring the natural materials in my yard.
5. I then rolled on my thyme leaves in a pattern and cut the ends of the clay at a bevel. This was another tip that I learned from Karan's videos. Bevelled edges create a more secure and tidy seam. I didn't have a bevelled wire cutter, so I simply angled my knife at a 45 degree angle and made a simple cut.
6. Next was to score, add slip and overlap the bevelled edges
7. I welded and smoothed the seam on the inside, after which I used and excess piece of clay to attach the base.
8. At this point, one could choose to "belly" out the mug or keep the classic cone shape. I attempted the "bellied" shaped first by slowly using my fingers to stretch the inside of the cup. Afterwards, I ended up making an extra mug and decided to keep the original conical shape.
9. I cleaned up the edges and seams once again with wet fingers.
Another pro tip I learned from Karan is to place a funnel inside the mug to ensure its roundness. I didn't have a funnel big enough to do this step, but I decided to document it in case I make more mugs in the future.
Darted Mug:
1. The steps for creating the darted mug were a bit different. Here I used a piece of paper in the shape of a rectangle as my main template to trim my clay (after wedging and compressing of course)
2. Next I scored and slipped and connected the seams.
3. I then divided the transverse side of the cup into quarters and used a small template in the shape of a dart to cut a triangular shape at each quarter mark.
4. I bevelled the edges of each side once more and pulled in each seam, which formed the darted base of the cup.
Handles:
Karan also demonstrated a simple method to create "fake pulled handles":
1. First was to create a carrot-shaped coil and slap this coil on my worktable to flatten one side. This flattened side would form the inside of the handle.
2. Next, I used a wet sponge and ran that along the top of the handle while lifting the handle up off the table .
3. I then turned the handles and placed them along with the mugs to get leather hard. According to Karan, one had to allow the handles to set up a bit with the mugs before attaching so that they would maintain their shape.
Now this is where things got tricky. I covered my handles and mugs and left them a bit too long because I had to go to work, and eventually when I came back the next day to attach everything, the handles all broke apart. I was devastated. There was only one handle that was salvageable that I ended up attaching to my darted mug. However, I left my bellied mug without a handle. I learned here that I left the handles to dry for too long and also learned from Professor Rochford that handles must be attached quickly, otherwise they will crack. So, that was when I went back to create another simple conical mug and attach a handle a bit more quickly. This was successful!
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