Mugs, Ornaments & Other Random Ceramics

I wasn't sure what my schedule would be like in terms of making ceramics. But I've managed to get into the studio 3-4 times a week since I started my membership. Of course theres lots of trial and error with ceramics so not everything I've made is a viable item, but I'm really happy with my progress!

My main focus has been mugs and ornaments. The ornaments won't be available for purchase until the fall/holiday season, but the mugs will be ready for my next market! If you'd like more details about my markets, make sure to sign up for my newsletter or follow me on instagram.

Maybe I'll tell you a little bit about the process I've been doing. Mostly I've been working with porcelain clay, although I am introducing some white speckled clay to try some new designs with as well. After I throw, trim, and bisque fire the pieces I then go on to using underglaze to create the illustrations. I found a really great method on tiktok of screenprinting your designs using a gelly plate. I'm posting a few videos on youtube of studio vlogs, so you'll be able to see the process in one of those coming up. I screenprint the black (or red) line onto the mug or ornament, allow that to dry for a little while, and then I can go in with a brush and paint some underglaze layers. I've been doing a bit of a washed out, watered down method that makes the pieces look almost like watercolour. I like that each piece has a unique quality while still staying relatively consistent.

I still have a lot of experimentation to do as well as seeing how people like these out in the real world will help me decide if I should focus more on one particular style/veggie handle/animal. Which actually seeing how things sell is one of my favourite parts of markets because you get feedback in real time of if your choices are successful or not!

My current main focus is my veggie handle mugs, but if people don't really connect with them, then I am happy to shift my focus as they are a bit fiddly to make haha!

I'm also going to be offering a more traditional mug form as some of the animals I'll be using don't really work well with the veggie handle concept (I'll share why very soon and hopefully you'll understand).

I'm also trying hard to not limit myself. Sometimes I get so focused on creating a line of items that are cohesive that I forget that I don't have to do that! I can make whatever I want and glaze it however I want and I don't have to feel like things need to make sense together. Especially in these early stages of creating, I need to give myself room to experiment and try stuff out because, really, it's all new!

Thanks for reading!

xx Rachel