Mugs

Tonight, I celebrate little victories here at the pottery. After taking a few days off to travel to Seagrove and visit with the cousins, I got back in the shop to...... make pots? NO! More carpentry, of course. I've been wanting to build a new and more roomy ware rack to handle all the all pots I work on during a firing session.

handy for drying towels, too!

Here it is in all of it's glory. It's moderately stable. Just needs some lateral support. Perhaps I'll add some ceiling support. After some adjustments to the depth, it works relatively well. (Just needs more pots!) I'm planning on a rack to handle smaller pots next door to this one, maybe next week when I get the urge to taste more piney sawdust.

noses?

After shoveling some snow this afternoon, I made it up to the shop to start a fire in the wood stove and get going on some pots. Something, anything! So it was a board of mugs.

I don't know about you, but I'm always interested in the origins of phrases, sayings, figures of speech. Especially if it's something to do with pottery making. So, where did the term mug shot originate? Follow this weak link and decide for yourself. If anybody has a better origin, please comment to the effect. These mugs certainly take on the characteristics of faces. At least in my eyes. Do you see? In Catawba Valley pottery traditions, handles were often called "ears". I've never heard of handles being referred to as noses, but that's what I'm seeing in these pictures.

Come Sunday, these mugs will get dipped in some kaolin slip and get combed.

Tune in tomorrow for that and hopefully I'll have my Seagrove/Cousins post edited and ready for your consumption. Bottoms up.