Decal Mugs

this mug is fairly big and bright, didn't photograph as well

Last week I applied and fired some decals on some functional mugs. Some of the mugs had decals over-fired previously, but some of the decals were applied to fresh mugs.

double decal cat on a leaning mug

I made the mugs near the end of the summer quarter when I was testing out my new ball openers.

the Temmoku glaze works well on this slipped surface (no cat)

I was using some cone 6 glazes I had used last summer, as well as some new (to me) Potter's Choice glazes. I applied decals on most of the mugs, but skipped one with a lot of texture because I'm happy with the glaze on its own.

I played around with some wiggly bases

The mugs don't match each other, mostly because I was trying out a variety of different shaping and decorating techniques and was just entertaining myself.

I just like this bottom swirl, even if the photo is odd

I was especially happy with a few spiral trimmed bottoms which I highlighted with underglaze colors.

 

the cats worked better on the curved surfaces than other decals

The decals I used the second time worked very well, for the most part. The cats show up well in both gold and black on all of the glaze colors. 

this cat seems to be floating in space

I particularly like when the cats seem to be interacting with the landscape of the mug.

I like the way the cats use the line of the mug to stand on

Some of the mugs are less successful, in part because the glaze colors look a little odd in the second firing.

the cat shows up ok, but the color has become a bit metallic

I used mostly cat decals, but I had a few other science-y decals. These worked out less well, in part because they were applied on top of darker glazes and in once instance because they were incompletely applied.

the decal didn't completely adhere to the curved surface, and therefore fired off and out of round

It's tough to get the decals to stick well on curved surfaces, so after trying for a while, I decided to just try it out and see what would happen.

the mottled glaze color obscures some of the decal color

A few of the cat decals showed up with a line around the exterior of the cat. The line is where the clear part of the decal was cut. 

the edge of the decal shows up on this glaze

I cut them haphazardly because I thought the edges would be invisible--and they were on most mugs. On the darker, more metallic glazes, those edges showed up as sloppy outlines around the cats.

boo, hiss

The frustrating thing is that the fix would have been so easy, I could have simply cut the cats out closer to their edges, but I didn't and now it is too late. Maybe these are a good cups for someone with poor eyesight or a dark kitchen.

mug with a line around the cat

I plan to take a few of the mugs to Oak Hollow Gallery for the holiday show. The show opens in November and runs through December. I will bring some mugs and some bulbs, which will be sold individually. Let me know if you have requests, I deliver the mugs and bulbs at the end of this week.

"Ericano Bionica" bulbs installation from 2015

Besides the mugs I made for the holiday show (well, I made them for fun, but some are going to the gallery), I also made a few smaller mugs with some clay that was recycled by my young helpers this summer. I used decals on these mugs, too, and the helpers each got their own mug as thanks for recycling clay with me.

I like how the cats seem to be playing in the grass on these mugs.