Throwing for Yakima Artist's Studio Tour: Scream & Texture Mugs

 

mugs with sprigged texture

I've got about 3 weeks until the Yakima Artist's Studio Tour on Labor Day Weekend, so I decided to throw some new screaming face mugs. My home studio will be open for the three days of the tour, September 4 and 5 from 10-4 and Monday, September 6 from 12-1. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids and seniors, and you can purchase them directly from me. Tickets get you into all 7 participating studios for the entire weekend.

25lbs ready to throw

Last time I threw porcelain, I discovered that my recycled porcelain was contaminated. This caused bubbles and yuck in my clay after firing, so I had to replace the clay. Unfortunately the mugs and some of the bowls also needed to be replaced. In the past week I've thrown 50# of that new clay. None has been fired yet, but the throwing went fairly well.

smashing a covid mug from the contaminated clay

I did have some funny reactions with my pulled handles. I used clay straight from the bag, but several of the wet handles split in straight lines while they were drying. I dont' think I've ever had this happen before. I'm guessing the clay was too recently mixed and that led to the problem. 

broken mugs with (short?) new clay

Clay that has been recently mixed is "short" meaning that there might be inconsistencies in how evenly the water and clay particles are distributed and mixed. Aged clay (as opposed to short or new clay) may also have some mold developing that helps the clay be more plastic and more flexible. I'm guessing these handles were simply too wet to hold up for the distance required.

25lbs ready to wedge

Straight out of the bag, the clay was pretty wet, wetter than I usually work with and sticky on the outside. Once I wedged it up it was ok to work with, but it wasn't as nice as the pugged clay I threw with last time. Of course it should be nicer when fired, since the last batch unexpectedly had bits of a different clay body mixed in.

the color difference in the clay next to the bubble suggests that's a different clay body, which matures at a lower temperature

I had a little trouble getting started the other day when I sat down to throw. Sometimes switching clay bodies or consistencies requires a little getting-used-to time, but I think my issue was compounded because I did a hard arm workout that morning and my arms were simply tired. 

the first "warm up" bowl had to be cut shorter at least two or three times

After the first unfortunate bowl got trimmed down to size a couple of times, I got back into the swing of things and threw a batch of bowls and mugs. I didn't want to make too much stuff, because the face mugs really take a lot of work. I threw five and those should keep me busy for at least a couple of days once the handles are on. Twenty five pounds of clay yielded five mugs, eight handles (always make extras) and four bowls, as well as the stuff I trimmed off the top of the first bowl.

one evening's throwing

The week before I threw the same amount of clay, but made 9 mugs, as well as some bowls. Nine mugs was a bit much, because the face mugs take more time. I didn't end up making all 9 into face mugs, but turned three into sprigged mugs.

sprigs

The sprigged mugs are also a lot of work, but its a different kind of work. Putting sprigs on just means repeating the same texture over and over again. It takes time, but not a ton of thought.  The face mugs take more concentration, planning, and patience. I also find I need to return to the face mugs several times to refine the sculpting, whereas the sprigs go on and pretty much stay put. I did add some texture behind, but that's it.

different sprigs

The screaming face mugs start out looking pretty messy as I rough in the features. I neglected to take a picture of the very start of the process, when it looks like a toddler has decorated the mug. Below I show the mug after the second time I returned to it. The features are starting to get roughed in and the expression is starting to take shape.

step 2 of the facial features

I return to each face several times after I initially place the features. With some of this batch of faces, I accidentally let the mug itself get a little stiffer than I'd like before I started to work on it. This meant I kept needing to add moisture and take breaks between sculpting on it. I started by scoring (scratching) the surface and adding slip (liquid clay) to the surface before adding clay to the areas that would stand out (nose, lips, eyebrows). Then I painted slip over the whole surface and let the mug sit under plastic while I worked on the next one.

step 3 of the facial features

When I returned to the mug, the wetness of the features and the mug itself had evened out a bit, the added clay and surface was a little drier and the mug was a little wetter. I was able to cut and press into the clay with wooden and rubber tipped tools to create the wrinkles and indents and start to smooth the cheeks, nose, and lips. Then I painted to surface again with slip and let the mug sit under plastic another time.

finished scream mug

Eventually, I was able to use metal carving tools to shape the teeth and refine the deeper wrinkles and folds in the drier clay. I usually use a dry brush to wipe away the small bits I carved away with the tools then brush the whole face with thin slip or water when the features are done to my liking.

the eyes were an afterthought here

I hadn't worked on faces in quite some time, so when I returned to them it took me a few tries to get proportions and positions right. 

my faces inspiration and expression guidance board

I started by working from my wall of inspiration photos, but I made a few mistakes. On one I planned to leave the eyes off, but it looked too strange. I ended up adding them, but they are very close to the top edge which also looks strange.

the mouth was an afterthought here

On another I thought I'd leave the mouth off and ran into the same problem in the other direction. I'm fairly happy with the eyes on this one, but the missing bottom lip just looks strange and changes the expression.

face mask mug

I tried one more mug based on my photos. This one was a masked mug which took me a bunch of tries to get right. I kept taking away too much mask. The mask is a little hard to sculpt from a photo because it is all white and because I can't see the sides and the front at the same time in the photo. It's also a little funny working out where it ends, as faces aren't flat at the bottom like mugs.

scream mug nearly complete

Finally I realized that I could work from the finished mugs that I liked last time around. Instead of looking at photos and interpeting them to mugs, I could work from my most successful mugs directly (or photos of the ones I sold). 

scream mug from earlier in the year

In some ways this approach simplified the process, because I already know where the features belong on the mug surface and I already knew which faces and features worked best. Working in this way also resulted in me simplifying or stylizing some of the features. I think this worked out visually. It was certainly easier to create this way and I was able to play around with subtle variations in proportions and depth.

screem mug with large teeth, in progress

I still ran into trouble, of course. For one of the mugs I made the teeth separate, which results in more realistic looking teeth, but I made these teeth too big. I'm afraid the result looks a bit like Jerry Lewis making fun of someone rather than a more straight-forward screaming face.

scream mug with large teeth after the tongue was added

As of this writing, I have five more mugs to add faces to today. With any luck, I'll have learned from my mistakes from the previous batch and these ones will be improvements.

finished scream / face mugs, drying

My goal is to get all of these face and sprig mugs finished, glazed, and fired before the Studio Tour. With three weeks that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I do have some other pieces to finish up and glaze before the tour and a few work committments and appointments. I wrote myself a calendar of when stuff needs to be done because I have a habit of trying to cram in just a bit more if I think I can fit it in. I want to make stuff, but don't want to knock myself out.

sprig mugs drying