Would you use these mugs in your home? Many people I know have kitchens that would tie in with this nice warm earthy color palette. Unfortunately, my house isn’t one of them. I don’t own a lick of brown!
I was kind of bummed when I got my pieces back today because I didn’t apply any brown glazes yet that’s all I got.
I was expecting most of these pieces to have a Chartreuse green crackle glaze and to be bright and cheery.
This mug was supposed to be a pink-purple color on top with yellow-green crackle throughout.
This one was supposed to be yellow-green on top.
All three of these were supposed to be a bright yellow-green and instead, I got brown. The Chartreuse crackle glaze didn’t work. On all of my pieces it either turned clear or brown. The glaze is new to the studio and it hadn’t been tested yet. I guess we can call my pieces the testers and guess what, the test failed.
These two mugs came out as expected. They are fun, playful and colorful.
You do realize that when I complain, this would be like a 1 out of 10 on the importance-meter. Meaning – not at all important. It’s simply a self-critique. They still will hold coffee and I still had a great time making them. It’s just when you build your expectations up high, you have a vision in your head of one thing and then the reality is way off, you can feel a bit down.
What do you do when you feel beaten? When you feel like a pottery failure??
You make more pots!
I was so angry, I took that frustration and began the process of making more mugs. I learned a lot from this previous batch. The hand-built upper walls of these past mugs were an idea to fix a mistake. I like the look so much I am going to try it again and they are going to be straighter and fastened smoother. I have some ideas on using under glazes to gain better control over the color outcome too. I will get this right I tell you!
This will be my third attempt this year to get “the mug” perfected. I think my poor husband has seen at least twelve mugs come in and around twelve mugs move out. I keep giving them away before my latest attempts come out of the kiln.
I promise hubby I will keep this batch of mugs until the new ones are finished. But as God is my witness, I vow to continue the mission, the mission to create THE PERFECT MUG!
Be Creative Mary 
I’ll take one of those mugs for my coffee at work. : )
Can’t you reglaze the ones you don’t like? I did that with some of the pottery that I glazed and wasn’t happy with. The second glazing was much better.
I have to say, I’m drinking out of the brown one now. Not my colors, but it is a perfect coffee mug. It’s the size of two mugs. Maybe more like a coffee urn! The next ones will be better. If not, I’m throwing myself in the kiln!