When I was in Peru, I had the good fortune to be able to throw pottery in a local studio in Cuzco. The technique I learned there was really fascinating; he would put a pad of clay down on the wheel as a base, and then add a coil around it and "throw" that coil into place.

Fast forward a few years (quite a few) and I'm in my pottery studio at The Blue Brick wondering what on earth to do with a few bags of clay that had been exposed to the air and become too hard to throw. I thought of this man's technique again, wondering if it would be the trick to still being able to make lovely things from troublesome clay.

I rolled out the clay to an even thickness, and then used texture rollers on it. Then I placed a pad on the wheel, stood the "walls" upright on the pad and threw it into place, just as he had. The clay was so stiff that even very thin walls worked out beautifully, and the depth of the texture was lovely. Ultimately I did switch back to clay that was newer, because I wanted to work with white clay, to really show off my gradient colours, but the technique was now in my head.

Here are the finished mugs :) I painted each one in one of our colourways; Blue Jay, Grand Turk, Pride, Gerber Daisy, Nicaragua, & Seascape. Ulimately I'd love to be able to offer these paired with skeins of yarn as well.

Tomorrow, Monday January 16th, at 9am ET, these mugs will hit the online shop. However, I'd like to try something I've never done with pottery, allow pre orders for them.

To prevent a bit of chaos, we are going to try an experiment :) I will try these on pre order. Yarns and mugs both will hit the shop this Monday, January 16th, at 9am ET.

I’ve got my system down and I think, if I cap it carefully, that things will work out. I will ask for patience from anyone who chooses to go this route; pottery is not like yarn. I am not set up for mass production of pottery and the firing of the kiln can only happen when the kiln is full. Pottery is a fickle beast. Though it hasn’t happened yet, technical challenges and firing issues can occur.

Have I issued enough disclaimers? Then read on my loves.

You will be able to choose your colourway, and your texture. So if you want a full set of four mugs with knitted pride, or a motley crew of textures and colours, you can do it, and you can do it without fear that the current stock will sell out on you, or that you’ll get cart-jacked. You’ll just also have to have patience with me <3 my goal will be to ship all pre orders together; yarn and ceramic, within the 30 day window (that is, before the next sale). If there’s a hold up on the clay, there will be a holdup on the yarn because they’ll be shipping together :) If I find that this was too much for me, I’ll be totally honest about it, fulfill this batch and stick to inventory. You will, of course, still be able to shop from ready-made mugs as well.

This will only apply to the textured mugs, not the “mini steins”; those will still be inventory only.

I hope this gives everyone a chance to get exactly what they want without any stress tomorrow! And remember; if you are local to me, and planning to pick up, email me and I’ll get you a free shipping code that’s just for you. Saves me from having to issue refunds and such :)

Thoughts? Is this better for y’all? Am I crazy? (Wait, don’t answer that last one)