FALL MUGS

By Ann Klungseth, June 13 Pottery

I had no actual thoughts or intentions of making fall mugs this year. For one thing - where even IS fall?  And I don't have any fall art fairs scheduled. But then I saw my favorite fall mug (a lovely dark brown with a pumpkin medallion) sitting on the counter and the temptation was too great. Off to the wheel I went. But here's the thing: most people have a strong association with fall and pumpkins. I am not such a fan of pumpkin. And you know what color is even more vibrant than orange?  RED.  So I made a pumpkin mug. I know you want a pumpkin mug. But I also made some APPLE mugs! How crisp, how fresh, how red! An acorn mug was also considered, but since I was only making a tiny batch, I limited the selection. While this small batch of mugs has been drying, I also mixed up a red glaze for those mugs!  So exciting! I put a test tile in the kiln! So so exciting! Then it came out: GREEN.  Less exciting!  I still need to finish drying the mugs, and then bisque fire them before they're ready for glaze, so I have a little time to tweak the glaze recipe, but that's just the way pottery goes.  Lots of hope, and lots of failure. There are so many little things that can go wrong every step of the process. You learn to control a lot of it, but any kiln load that comes out 75% successful, you have to be happy. In the case of this small fall batch, I'll be hoping for all "good apples."

Ann Klungseth, June 13 Pottery

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