LEARN
with our
Pottery
BASICS
Series
Building forms with slabs of clay is the most accessible way to make a mug. This technique has many advantages over other production methods like the ability to texture walls and create beautiful geometric forms. We'll go over four ways to make a clay slab and techniques to create mug forms with them. We'll explore texture, seams, joining techniques, and approaches to finishing.
Molds allow a potter to create thousands of identical pieces using a process called slip casting. But before you can start slip casting, you'll need to learn the process of working with plaster to create a reproduction mold. You'll learn how to safely and effectively create reproduction molds for slip casting. Then, we'll make a press mold used for creating handles with porcelain or stoneware clay bodies.
Most ceramic items in your kitchen were made by slip casting. Though often associated with industrial machines, this production method has many creative perks! It allows me to create hundreds of "blank canvases" on which I can put unique imagery, yet retain a consistent form that will stack and store perfectly. I'll show you how I mix five gallons of cone 6 porcelain slip at a time and how you can make your own. Then we'll do some slip casting with the molds we've created.
"Center the clay. Imagine the form. Fashion it with your fingers." It's not just the process for making mugs but a recipe for life! Throwing on the wheel is what initially drew me into pottery. I have been shaped through this peaceful and meditative craft and in these videos I pass on what I've learned. We'll go over the basics of throwing on the wheel and trimming your leather hard vessels. I'll show you some tools that make production pottery easier and how to make those tools yourself. Lastly, we'll talk through several examples of throwing on the wheel and off the hump.
Pottery is unique among the arts in that your patrons will spend intimate time with your artwork: in their view, at their lips, in their hands. Crafting the right handle for your mug is both an aesthetic and utilitarian decision, and we'll go over several paths to get there. Handles play such an important role in the aesthetic and feel of your mugs. In this lesson we'll go over multiple methods for constructing and attaching a handle, and I'll share pro tips all along the way.
Well constructed mugs are not always the mugs that sell the best. Over the past five years, I've learned a lot about how to get mugs to sell. In this course, I'll share those secrets that will keep your shelves fresh with new work and your studio funded. There's more to mugs than great forms and elegant handles. Getting your mugs to sell often involves a connection that goes beyond the technical aspects of your work. In this section we'll go over how to attract the right customers and get them to identify with your work.
![mugs-are-money-graphic-[Recovered].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/da7bff_218efc7154474f4094af205e36e7eb28~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_102,y_0,w_1734,h_1080/fill/w_81,h_51,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/mugs-are-money-graphic-%5BRecovered%5D.jpg)
THE UBIQUITOUS MUG can be picked up as a souvenir or given as a gift. Rituals of relationships around the mug happen in coffee shops and living rooms around the world. Cupboards and cabinets are filled with these one-off works of art which don't need a set to be special. ​For this reason I chose to build my pottery business on the coffee mug in 2019. This and the fact that my potter friend said to me, "Mugs are money, MJ. That's what they say at all the pottery shows."
