Saturday, April 24, 2010

Sir Mugs-A-Lot...

Did I ever tell you that I love mugs...well, in case I haven't...I love mugs. This week I got three wonderful mugs that I will be drinking my morning coffee from. All three are different from each other and all three exhibit qualities that are very attractive to me as far as what I look for in a mug. Let me tell you about these guys...
The first mug that came into my possession this week was from Keith Phillips down in North Carolina. Keith and I have been online friends for the last couple years...exchanging comments on blogs and checking out each others etsy shops. Well, Keith contacted me about needing a new mug since there was some strange accident in his home where somebody broke one of the mugs he had bought from me a while back. This was a pretty good mug with a perfectly good decal image of a 16th century prostitute and a floral gold luster commercial decal layering around the surface...broken! My first thought was "dear god man!"...was he not caring for that poor mug the way he should have been...was he exposing his children to this work of questionable morality?! Although questions like this raced through the fog in my murky brain, I suggested that we make a trade. Honestly, I have been eyeing up his fancy decal work over the rich shino glazes on some of his pieces and thought...yeah...lets trade mugs. The above image is my mug from Keith complete with everything I was hoping for from him...really nice shinos, good form and cool decals! I have already enjoyed one morning coffee from this mug...more soon to come...thanks for the great trade Keith!


















I actually paid cold hard cash for the next two mugs. I bought these mugs at IUP's ceramic sale that was happening on Friday and Saturday. The first one was made by Josh Floyd and is absolutely blasted with salt and dripping with ash. I could not pass it up. It has a great handle and I know I will be using this rugged beauty quite often. Check out Josh's blog to see his latest adventures at Red Lodge with other potter friends from our little area, Donn and Betty Hedman.



















The next mug is by a local area potter named Kathy Bizousky(Im sure this spelling is wrong, sorry). This is a wood fired mug that's long and tall with a mellow yellow salt glaze. This mug is all about function and has an Asian inspired dogwood flower motif all around the surface...my wife wishes I would have bought a small group of these.... but why have matching mugs when you can have mugs of different shapes and sizes, mugs with sweet ass decals, and mugs that show the power of their firings. I love having friends over for coffee or what not when we drink from my collection of mugs and the questions start: who made this one, where did you get this one, how was this fired?
So, yeah, this week was a good mug week...but I should also show you this gem too. I bought this mug at the cup sale during NCECA. Its an awesome mug...I love the shape, the slightly over fired glaze and especially the handle. I do not know who made this guy because by the time I made it up to the tables to pay for it, I had lost the dot with the price and number that identifies whose cup it was...ugh. Oh well, it looks like a Deborah Schwartzkopf soda fired second. I am not sure she soda fires anything but, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. The handle really inspired me to enlarge my own some as well as to start letting them cantilever out more. Funny how inspiration comes from the most random places.
















Thanks for ckecking out my new mugs...sorry you can only look and not handle them or bring them to your lips...that is unless, you drop by for coffee.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

lucky you, lucky you... i love keith's work and you must be getting quite a collection of mugs. actually when i first found your blog, your use of decals over non-electric fired work reminded me of keith's work.

christyculp said...

So jealous. I love Keith's work and was seriously pissed when his radish mug disappeared off esty before I could snag it! It's nice to know someone else is obsessive about coffee mugs too. I'll post my fav's this weekend with my saturday morning fatass coffee blogpost...that is one incredible mug...wonder if he's got more...

MudStuffing Pottery said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MudStuffing Pottery said...

Dang, like I don't feel awful enough that the prostitute cup broke! It was a pretty gorgeous cup... shino, decals, lustre, oh the bling! One of my favorites for sure, perfect for that afternoon cup of joe to help me get my second wind. It will be missed....

looking forward to a new one! Glad you were digging the one I sent, I thought it might fit with your predisposition to wrastlers.

Coffee Messiah said...

Great looking mugs, hope excellent coffee is going inside them!

Unknown said...

Wonderful Post Dear ………keep posting!!
Print pictures on cups