Did I mention the 100 cups thing?

That's right, 100 cups.  I have given myself the challenge to produce 100 cups over the next 3 months.  I have been working on cups off and on trying to find my form or voice - a vessel shape that pleases me.  I thought maybe after 100 cups I might be a little closer to the end of my journey. 

These are the second batch of cups I have worked on in the series.  These are porcelain with under glaze.  I thought it would be interesting to show you what a cup looks like before it is bisque fired - you see, these are still just raw dry clay (no firing has been done at this stage in the process).

The raise relief detail is called slip trailing.  This is a liquefied clay that is applied much like a icing on a cake. The color you see is called under glaze which is a glaze that will appear under the more translucent glaze applied after the bisque fire.

Cup Journey

My progression and development of such a simple object as the cup continues and I now think it will be a life time Journey. To take an object as simple as a cup one can can create countless variations.  The search for any artist in his or hers craft is what speaks to them and this is what I believe I'm still searching for in the cup - that voice that tells me this is what I need to make.

I was fortunate to take a workshop from Kristen Kieffer who makes amazing porcelain cups that are richly detailed using stamps, slip trailing, altered forms and under glazes. Most of these techniques I have tried in some small way but never all together and on such a simple shape as the cup.  The images here are some of the cups I have made recently on my journey.