Our Process
From a lump of clay to your first cup of the day
Seven stages, roughly three weeks, two firings. Nothing here is unusual for a studio potter — but each step leaves a mark you can feel in the finished mug, so it's worth knowing what happened before it reached your kitchen.
- 01
Clay
We work with an iron-bearing stoneware body that fires warm and speckled. Every batch is wedged by hand to drive out air and align the particles — skip it and a hidden bubble becomes a crack in the kiln.
- 02
Throwing
Each mug is centered and opened on the wheel, then the walls are pulled upward and shaped. The potter refines the rim while leaving enough clay at the base for balance. This is where the mug's weight and profile are established.
- 03
Shaping & handles
At the leather-hard stage, the foot is trimmed and the handle is pulled, shaped, and attached with scoring and slip. The handle is then refined so it feels balanced when the mug is full.
- 04
Drying
Mugs dry slowly under plastic for several days so the handle and body shrink at the same rate. Rushing this stage is the most common cause of a cracked join.
- 05
Bisque firing
The first firing turns bone-dry clay into bisqueware. At this stage the piece is strong enough to handle but still porous enough to accept glaze.
- 06
Glazing
Glazes are mixed and sieved in the studio, then applied by hand. Layering and application thickness help create the pooling, breaks, and color variation that emerge during firing.
- 07
Glaze firing
During the glaze firing, the clay matures and the glaze melts into its finished surface. Heatwork, kiln atmosphere, and placement all influence the final color and movement, so every firing brings its own variations.
Why it matters
The kiln always has a vote.
We can control the clay, the form, the glaze recipe, and the firing schedule. We cannot control exactly how a reactive glaze will pool on the third shelf from the bottom. That last unpredictable margin is what separates handmade pottery from manufactured ware — and it's why every mug you receive is a specific object rather than a copy of one.
It also means loss. Roughly one piece in ten cracks, slumps, or comes out of the glaze firing with a surface we won't sell. Those go in the shard pile, which is its own kind of honesty.
The result
A mug that earns its place on the counter.
Comfortable at the rim, balanced in the hand, and made for daily use. Properly fired stoneware is durable enough for the everyday rituals that give a favorite mug its character over time.
The Studio Letter
New glazes, fresh from the kiln.
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