Monday 10 January 2011

Monday Mugs

Happy Monday everybody

Here are the fifty mugs that I made lst week, all slipped and waiting for firing.
These are little stamps that I use for making the sprigs. Every time I fire the wood kiln, I try and get a few new ones in, with the date of the firing scratched in to the side of them. This form of embossed decoration was commonly used by the medieval potters of England.
Here's a mug with sprigs
And this one had marks, drawn through wet slip.

Well mugs aren't going to fill the kiln very quickly, so I need to get stuck in to making some bigger pots this week - maybe a few jugs?

Dan was asking about the pantomime after my previous post. Pantos usually run from before Christmas and in to the spring. The male lead us usually played by a woman and the female lead, or Dame, by a male. Guess who I am this year. Grayson, I'm hot on your heels :)

10 comments:

Hollis Engley said...

Love the sprigged mugs, Doug. Are you going to bring a few dozen across the pond in the spring?

Unknown said...

Fantastic! I love to make multiples and challenge myself to make no two alike...that would be easy with a big box of stamps like you have :)

Joseph said...

I made myself a small box of coggles and rushed them through a firing ready for the childrens clay club we are running. It was the first week and we didn't get a single taker.

I wish I had kiln space to do fifty but having to stick to around the 20 mark at most. They are looking amazing though.

Anonymous said...

Those stamps are awesome!!

Are you coming to America in the spring? Will you be doing a workshop???
-Andy

ang design said...

oooh love the swirly sprig!! a friend tried to read the stamp on the bottom of my big pot the other day, lucky i scratched it off eh... :P

gz said...

sprigs looking good. I've been using mine for thirty years or so...never thought of dating them! Good idea

Anonymous said...

he's behind you ....

oh no he isn't?

oh yes he is

cookingwithgas said...

great mugs! I thought I had some stamps- seems I need to pick it up a bit!

doug Fitch said...

Hi all,
Hollis, yes, I'm hoping to get some nice ones out of the next couple of firings to bring over. Kathy, I find it's a really easy way of making the same thing, but all different. Andy, yes, I'm coming over with Hannah in April, Cape Cod, Virginia and North Carolina. Where are you based? Was it you that was studying in the East somewhere? If it was, I finally got that video made today of throwing a jug that I promised about two years ago!

Ang :-D

Gwynneth, looks like you've been getting busy. I hope our paths cross some time - Meredith, our paths WILL cross very soon, which is exciting :)

Anon, you're right, we had rehearsal last night and he was indeed, behind me :)

branded mugs said...

Love the sprigged mugs, Doug.