Cup Collective Design Notes - Pallant Creek Mug

This is the first of a series sharing the design notes of pots I’ve made for my Cup Collective, an annual subscription based membership where you receive a cup every season. It’s a chance to own (or gift) bespoke pieces that will only be available to cup collective members.

Pallant Creek Mug

These beautiful, big bellied mugs were thrown on the potters wheel with stoneware clay then carved with a variety of tools to create a rocky river bed.

The mugs then had plenty of time to dry before the bisque firing, as I had made them right before our baby Jo unexpectedly came earthside, so they weren’t fired until a few months later once we were home. 

I made the exterior brown glaze from clay harvested from the Pallant Creek, a small river on Haida Gwaii. 

Local clays are often very challenging to use and incorporate without a lot of testing and amending, but this clay seamlessly mixed into a really lovely, earthy glaze.  I only have a small bucket so I save it for special pieces.  

The interior of the mugs are glazed in an “accidental” blue glaze that I mixed up when doing a bunch of glaze testing, but have never been able to replicate, despite following what I thought were very detailed notes.  Again, I only have one small bucket so I use it sparingly.

The mugs were then fired to a final temperature of 1200 degrees celsius over the spam of 16 hours.

Spots in the Cup Collective open in the spring of each year. Previous members and newsletter patrons get first dibs on spots, so be sure to subscribe if you’re interested!