Mugs and Poking

Today I was inspired to start 7 large mugs.  On the weekend I hope to clean up the bottoms (I threw them such that I don't expect to need to trim them for thickness/weight), stamp them, and add handles.

I was trying to throw them and introduce an intentional wonkiness to them.  With some success, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the result, as they were not as wonky and I had hoped.

Then a classmate borrowed some of my handmade stamps, and was raving about how much she liked them, which reminded me that my new stamps would be out of the bisque firing now, so I fetched them and tried them out.

Some of my latest stamps were inspired by the poking / stamping of Paul Lyon (see his Instagram account lyonclay).  He is the master of stamping and then using a gorgeous fluid glaze which ranges from golds and browns to a beautiful blue.  I'm always in awe of his results, and how many beautiful combinations he can generate with his stamping and poking tools.

Anyhow, I kind of went crazy with the stamping, but I loved the effect.  I hope I can find glaze combinations which will embrace and enhance the texture :

So here they are, the first and second :

...and third :

..fourth and fifth :

...sixth :

...and seventh :

I'm pretty excited to see these finished.

Oh, I should add that I got a nasty sting from a wasp this morning.  I inadvertently came too near their nest in the ground while weeding, and next thing I had a very sharp pain in the back of my right hand, and several wasps circling me madly.  It was very painful, but I didn't think much of it, since I don't really react much to insect bites.  Except this one.

As the afternoon went on, I first found it painful and difficult to make a fist or pick up anything.  Then it progressed to not being able to clench my fist or straighten out my fingers.  My hand swelled up quite a bit.  It is late at night, and my hand still seems to be about twice the usual thickness, and very painful when I move it.  I have purchased and taken some store-brand Benadryl, and hope that will reduce the swelling a bit tonight, so I can behave relatively normally tomorrow.

So I discovered that I needed to improvise quite a bit with the throwing, using my left hand a lot more than usual, and using different parts of the hand for throwing.  It was a sort of fun challenge, for one day.  But now I think I've had enough challenge, and will be glad when it is back to normal again.