Pottery doesn't get much more personal and intimate than the pieces we put to our lips. The following forms are variously intended for coffee and tea, water, juice, champagne, saké, or whiskey, but I'm not going to tell you what to put in your cup. That's between you and your lips.
Tall Cups with Resist Brushwork
The design is a tapered round extrusion sitting on a five-sided extrusion that forms the foot. This form is a version of yunomi, traditional Japanese cups intended for everyday tea drinking. The impetus to make them came from a superb pottery gallery in Iowa City called AKAR (clayakar.com). They hold an invitational yunomi show every spring to benefit Studio Potter journal, where I serve as a board member.
Black + White Cups
Incised and stretched black slip on white stoneware
Tumblers with Grass Pattern
Resist brushwork and copper matt glaze
Faceted Mugs
This was a short-lived but intriguing experiment in a 3D-printed extruder die. For technical reasons far above my pay grade, the printer couldn't make a "round" opening, it had to do it in many small straight sections, which produced the unexpected subtle facets on the clay surface. I loved it, but the bio-plastic material couldn't withstand the pressure of the extruded clay and broke after a couple hours' use.
Mugs with Black Leaf Pattern
Stencil-printed black slip on white stoneware
Mugs with Black Reed Pattern
Stencil-printed black slip on white stoneware
Mugs with Blue Hatch Pattern
Stencil-printed cobalt slip on white stoneware
Mugs with Plywood Handles
I'm intrigued with the idea of combining clay with different materials. In this case, I laminated sections of birch plywood into a solid block, then carved the handles to fit the already-fired forms. A metal pin and epoxy hold the handles in place. Incised black slip on white stoneware
Saké Cups
I'm calling them saké cups, but you could use them for anything you want to sip small amounts of. Trailed black slip on porcelain
Shot Cups with Gold
A bit larger than the saké cups, these sport the added decoration of 24K gold overglaze decal, which comes as a solid sheet and can be cut easily with scissors.
Champagne Flutes
This is another example of adding a different material to clay. The stems are old steel augur bits, attached with epoxy after the bowl and base have been fired. Stencil printed black slip on porcelain.
Tapered Champagne Flutes
Another version of the above, here with twisted square-stock steel, attached with epoxy after the bowl and base have been fired. Stencil printed black slip on porcelain.