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Wheel Thrown Pottery

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Two Different Mugs for Cherri   (hit on pics to enlarge)

Specialty Mugs are one of a kind affordable art pieces that can be given or collected. Each mug is made to order unless offered in a limited edition series.  Since 2002 I have not offered a series with more than 11 pieces.  I always keep #11/11 for my personal collection, so only 10 pieces are available through auction on eBay.  I am showing you examples of mugs that have been done in the past.  I apologize for the quality of the photo's but most were scanned from bad photo's. 

  If you are interested in having a Special Mug made, contact me for specifics of what can and cannot be done. Prices start at $35.00 for initial mugs and I have sold Limited Edition mugs on eBay for $99.00.

The Process begins by throwing a stein or mug, applying a handle and allowing the piece to dry for several hours.  The design is cut out of a 1/4 inch thick sheet of clay after being traced from paper.

  The design and the mug are then roughed or scoured to allow for a good solid adhesion. The design is then pressed into the mug being careful not to alter the shape.

 After touching up the design and smoothing all the seems the Mug is then ready to be signed, dated and numbered.

  If you are not familiar with My work, I am a production potter, who occasionally takes time out to work on special projects of interest. These are limited to about one project a year because of the time involved. I average about $60.00 an hour doing production pottery and these Steins represent about 2 hours total labor each. They would have to sell for $120.00 each to break even......did I mention only do this about once a year.  I will list below the steps required in making these steins.

1. The steins are thrown from 2lbs of clay and left to dry for several hours
2. Once a leather hard stage is reached the handles are extruded and attached to the mugs
3. The design is then traced onto a sheet of leather hard clay and cut out to attach to the mug.
4. The mugs are then numbered, signed and dated
5. The mug is then covered in plastic and let to slow dry for several days. This is to avoid drying cracks where the design and handle have been attached.
6. Once the mug has reached bone dry it is placed in the kiln and fired slowly up to 1800 degrees. this firing takes about 16 hours to reach temperature and 24 hours to cool.
7. The mugs are removed and polished with sanding stones to remove any impurities on the surface of the clay
8. Each mug is then covered in Iron Oxide and wiped down to darken the clay.
9. The mugs bottom is waxed to resist the Glaze.
10. The mugs are then completely submerged in a  glaze and left to dry
11. Once dry, the black glaze is scraped off the design and the design is hand painted with two coats of glaze (depending on the mug design)
12. The mugs are then placed back into the kiln and fired again, this time to 2150 degrees to melt the glaze and fuse it with the clay.

As you can tell from above, this is not any of that "Made In China" stuff, this is American Made Art.

The Archives

Racing Mugs

Dale Earnhardt #3 Face Mug from 1996	Jeff Gordon #24 Face Mug from 1996	Terry Labonte #5 Face Mug from 1996
Earnhardt from 1997	Earnhardt from 1999	Earnhardt from 2001
Gordon from 1997	Gordon from 1999	Gordon from 2000
Rusty Wallace from 2000	Terry Labonte from 2000	Mark Martin  from 2000
Earnhardt Jr from 2001	Bobby Labonte from 2000	Tony Stewart from 2000
Richard Petty from 2000	Dale Jarrett from 2000	Bill Elliott from 2001

Super Hero's

Superman from 1997	Superman from 2001	Batman from 2001
Spawn from 1998	Spawn from 1999	Spawn from 1999
Spawn from 1999	Spawn from 2001	Spawn Limited edition Stein from 2004
Side profile of 2004 Spawn Edition	Mugs are numbered and signed on bottom	Each limited Edition Collectible comes with an autographed Certificate of Authenticity from Thor

Go to Page 2 for College and Pro Team Collectibles

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Last modified: 04/20/09