The start to a wonderful long weekend in the studio

Slab cups with spiral impressions

Faceted and fluted cups

 I have taken a few days off of work so that I could play with clay. I just love making cups. I can't seem to ever have enough of them around. I make my own cups and use them and I buy many as well. I probably use cups more than any other functional ware.
These slab constructed cups are about 4 1/2" tall and are very fun to make I don't sweat the shape of the cup except at the rim. I like the rims to be round so, there are a couple of things that I do to take care of this detail. As the cup is drying to the leather hard stage I will leave a plastic cup sitting in the mouth of the cup this lets the mouth of the cup move as it drys but it keeps the cup mouth very round. After it gets to the leather hard stage I center it on my kick wheel and I shape the rim with a chamois. This give the cup a very finished feel and look. I think this is important because this is the mouth contact point and even a beautiful cup can have a bad feel when it is pressed to the lips in use.
The faceted and fluted cups are 2 1/2" to 3 1/4" tall. I have just started working with these and I am trying different tools to do the faceting and fluting. There is always room for experimenting with cups. I am not really pushing any boundaries here but I am enjoying the process and I am looking forward to seeing them finished. I envision them as being the perfect size for a stiff drink on ice.

I just listed this white oak mixing spoon on Etsy. This spoon is made from a very old barn beam that I salvaged from a collapsed barn that was being gaurded by a small heard of donkeys. Treats were offered until all were happy and I was left alone to pull out a barn beam.
I enjoy working with my daughter Lydia who does most of my photos. I love adding color to an item in a photograph and I thought that these bananas were perfect. We adjust the lights and compose the photo until we are both happy with the image. This has been a very good routine that has produced some very nice photos.