Using “Bright White” porcelaneous stoneware for these mugs, I’ve glazed the inside and the rim with a plain transparent glaze. For the outside, I used the same glazes I’ve used for the wide, distorted bowls, but here on a vertical surface. I love the tension of choosing the appropriate nib for the slip/glaze trailer, setting out a big bowl to catch the drips, holding the mug in what I hope is exactly the right position, then squirting the glaze and watching where it runs over the curved surface. Needless to say, even after years of practice, it doesn’t always do what I had planned. Did I plan for the Bailey’s Red to creep over the top border and into the transparent at the rim? Well, no. But then maybe it is the unexpected that adds that extra little something. At least that is what I am telling myself…

Porcelaneous stoneware, fired in oxidation, to Cone 6.