Pet Mugs - My First Large Commission Project - FINALLY!

This post has been a long time coming, considering this project was accepted in November and finished in December 2017. Better late than never, right? Right. (Edit 3/16/18: I did make a couple of videos about this project! Check them out here: Part 1 & Part 2.)

Spoiler! They're awesome.

So, pretty much as soon as I lost my job at the end of October, my mother in law commissioned 30 mugs - 10 cat themed and 20 dog themed - to be Christmas gifts for her pet sitting clients. I'd never taken on such a large project, but I had the time to do it, so I was excited! And also seriously nervous about getting that many mugs through the entire process with enough time to ship them to NM before Christmas.

To-be cat mugs.

Dog mugs.

The dog mugs were thrown to be 4" tall and 4" wide. The handles were all hand-pulled.

Right about midway through production of all the cups, the studio hired me as a part-time office assistant. I went from spending two and a half hours at the studio per week on average, to spending about 40 hours on average during the month of November and beginning of December.

The cat mugs took a considerable amount of time to decorate, both before and after the bisque firing.

The cat mugs were bigger: 5" tall and 4" wide. The handles were slab rolled.

Each got a cat and a personalized greeting on the back.

 While I've made plenty of mugs and cups in my pottery life, I've never produced so many at once, and I'm very grateful for the experience because I learned a lot. Particularly, trimming this many cups really helped me hone in my technique and style. The pieces I've made since definitely benefited from all the trimming I did on these forms.

Another thing I learned? Handles don't only crack at the connection points.

Put these out on the bisque shelf before the handles were completely dry.

*facepalm*

A total of four cat mugs lost their handles, and they were way too dry to re-attempt. So, they became bonus tumblers. Still totally functional, and still totally adorable. Obviously, they got replaced with handled versions, but I still sent two of them with the others down to NM.

Who doesn't love a good tumbler?

Of course, there was a good portion time spent waiting for the kiln. Still, 37 mugs were handled, decorated, bisqued, decorated again with glaze, then glaze fired within about six weeks. Not bad for a first pancake! And, they all survived the trip to NM thanks to my over-zealous packing methods.

Pretty much everyone at the studio saw me working on them at some point, and they were all super supportive and encouraging, even though plenty of them thought I was crazy for taking on a Christmas commission project in November. Honestly? It was crazy stressful, but the experience cemented my desire to produce pottery for a living. 10/10, will take on crazy commission projects again, just maybe not so late in the year.

Without further ado, the results!

SLA Shino

The dog faces were created with was resist and a paint brush. Both of these designs were inspired by posts I found on Pinterest, naturally.

Tenmoku

Buckwheat

As is always the case with cone 10 reduction firing, the glaze results varied from piece to piece. While the above SLA Shino was perfect, this one turned out all spotty.

SLA Shino w/bare spots for some reason.

Probably an operator error, as usual. If I remember correctly, there wasn't any spotting on the inside of this cup, just the outside. Probably got wax on it from my fingers. Anyhoo...

The kiln didn't quite get to temperature during this firing, so some of the glazes didn't mature fully. The cup above was supposed to be either yellow winkur or buckwheat. Most of the buckwheat ones turned out (see below), so I'm thinking it was supposed to be yellow winkur.

Buckwheat = Yellow lab!

The winkur yellow didn't quite mature and stayed orange, except for the spots where it pooled.

Still cute, though! 

The tenmoku glaze is pretty reliable, and while it didn't reach its full blackness, the dark brown result is pretty perfect for puppy mugs.

I love how they all have their own personalities.

A chocolate lab, perhaps.

SLA Shino again.

I only took packing pictures of the puppy mugs, apparently. I did, however, take some product photos of the cat mugs, because I fully intend to offer these as made-to-order items through my shop.

The cobalt blue glaze was very thin, so it resulted in mostly brown with some blue accents.

 The glaze process for these cat mugs was labor intensive, and, again, I learned a lot. First, I put tenmoku in the carved lines with a brush and let it dry. The excess was then sponged away, and wax resist was brushed over the panel so that the porcelain would remain bare and tenmoku wouldn't be overcome by the main glaze. The mug was then dipped in the main glaze, which was sponged away from the panel and foot.

I'm torn between wanting this to be solid cobalt blue and appreciating the actual result.

The basic clear glaze worked out great. No complaints with these ones, nor the semi-gloss white (my favorite glaze, if we're being honest. Boring, but reliable as hell).

 I stuck with celedon glazes on these for the most part so that the custom message on the back wouldn't get obscured by an opaque glaze. This one is Celedon green, which turned a bit more olive than usual due to the under-fired kiln.

Another Cobalt Blue.

 This was the first time I used the Traditional Celedon, and I have used it since. I am a fan.

Oh yeah, and the tumblers all turned out great, too. I kept a couple of them for myself, and sent two on with the main order as bonus cups.

In the future when I make more of these, I'll have to figure out another method of protecting the panel from the main glaze. While the wax resist did its job well enough, I'm not a fan of the finished effect. Next time I think I'll use paper instead. Less labor, and hopefully a cleaner result. Win win!

If you've visited my etsy shop recently, you have probably noticed there's nothing for sale. That's changing soon! The cat mugs and a handful of other pieces are going up as made-to-order items and the ring dishes and some other stuff are being listed sooooooooon! So, stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

~The NWB