Extraordinarily Humble Pottery! - August 2022

A thrown cup made with white stoneware with electric celedon glaze.

As a potter sometimes it can seem difficult to describe what is special about a handmade piece of pottery, or sometimes it can feel kind of silly, but I thought I would write about my experience today anyway. I recently made some simple thrown cups and this morning when I arrived at the studio the glaze firing was completed and had cooled. I unpacked the kiln and found my cups and my initial reaction was “not bad,” and “these are ‘OK’.” I wasn’t impressed, but I also wasn’t disappointed. I was a little bit indifferent to them. My goal with these cups was to create something simple and ‘cheap and cheerful’. After examining the batch, I selected one, which I thought was the least desirable, to keep as my own and bring home to use and to test.

The first step when I got home was to wash the cup. While washing it I could feel the body inside and out and I thought, ‘this is really nice,’ the walls are just right, not too thin, the cup is robust and sturdy and nice to hold. It feels strong, but its weight is balanced. I glazed this cup on the inside, while on the outside, the top two-thirds are glazed and the bottom third is exposed stoneware clay. It is a Celedon glaze, which is easy to clean, and the exposed stoneware is grippy and makes it easy to hold. This cup is respectably practical.

The next step was to drink from it. It’s been an incredibly hot summer, so I poured a cup of ice water and went to sit in the living room. The cup fit in my hand like a glove. The deep finger grooves, left behind from throwing it, fit my fingers perfectly and it felt great. By now, the cup was cool to the touch and the surface was wet with condensation, but the grippy stoneware was reassuring. As I took a sip, I noticed the rim of the cup was slightly thicker than I’m used to, but the lip was so nice and rounded that it fit extremely comfortably in the corners of my mouth. The inside of the cup seemed generous in volume for its size and shape and drinking from it was incredibly satisfying.

On porcelain this glaze is a good fit but on this stoneware it has a nice crackle finish.

In the daylight, the translucent celadon greenish blue looked so much better than in the fluorescent light of the studio, and examining the cup again I noticed the crackle surface was beginning to develop. What was a few long cracks fresh out of the kiln this morning, had now developed into a beautiful fine crackle pattern over the larger surface of the pot. I was really beginning to love this little pot! In contrast to the glazed surface, in the daylight, I could also see the texture in the stoneware body - my finger marks left there from smudging over the clay when it was still wet and slippery. The surface is flowing and dynamic.

It is interesting to me how this pot has a life of its own. Its creation is permanently recorded in its body, and given that I take care of it and don’t break it, it will last forever. It will also continue to age. The crackle may continue to develop for weeks, and may also stain from coffee or tea. As it does, it will highlight the pattern and change the look of the cup. But, most of all, in the little while I have used it, it has won me over. It feels great to use, and it’s inspiring in so many other ways. What started this morning fresh out of the kiln as a simple, plain, humble piece of pottery, turned out to be a wonderful, beautiful, extraordinarily humble piece of pottery … and that really made my day!