THE SACRAMENTO CRAWL MUGS ARE FINISHED AND IN THEIR BOXES FOR THE EVENT WHICH STARTS ON SEPTEMBER 30TH. FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT ATTENDING I WILL CONTACT YOU AFTER THE EVENT IS OVER.

I HAVE ALREADY SHARED THE SCULPTING, MOLDING, CASTING, FIRING AND WASHING OF THE MUGS SO THE REST OF THE STORY BEGINS WITH THE GLAZE TESTS. I WANTED THIS TO BE A BEAUTIFUL MUG SO I CHOOSE THE COLORS AND BOUGHT A CASE OF EACH. NOW I HAD TO SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT. ALONG THE WAY I DID SOME SPECIAL ARTIST PROOFS IN FUN COLORS. THERE IS EVEN A PURPLE PINEAPPLE. ALL THE MUGS INCLUDING THE ARTIST PROOFS SELL FOR $85 EACH. PLUS SHIPPING COSTS AS NEEDED.

I HAVE SOLD ALL OF THE FIRST RUN OF 60 AND DAN TOOK SOME AP'S SO THERE WILL BE 8 OF THE 11 I DID FOR SALE AT THE CRAWL. THIS IS A RUN OF 100 TOTAL INCLUDING THE AP'S AND THE MOLD WILL BE DESTROYED AFTER THE 100 ARE MADE. I HAVE THE OPTION OF MAKING 29 MORE ON THE WISH LISTS.SO IF YOU END UP ON THE WAITING LIST YOU WILL EVENTUALLY GET A MUG.

===========================

I had my color choices and now it was time to get to work.

I looked at the clock and started to glaze. The top took a long time because I had to get the glaze into all the cut in areas. 3 layers is such a bummer for these glazes. I did all the cross patterns too.

Next the triangles and

then carefully around the letters.

Then I wiped off any glaze that had run over.

Next I did the bamboo, the tiki and

the letters.

The first Artist Proof is done. From each one I will learn what I need to do. It took three hours to glaze this one mug. That doesn't count the time it took to make it and to glaze the inside of the mug which I had already done.

Just a close up to show the word Sacramento.

Taking 3 hours plus to glaze one mug wasn't going to work well for me. I needed to see if I could find a system or a brush that could do it faster. So one by one as I did the AP's I watched the clock. Here are a few photos I took along the way.

I had used water and a paper towel to clean off unwanted glaze now I was sanding it off to see how that would work. I liked it!

I did some layering of glaze to see how it would blend.

The glazing of the ten Artist Proofs took from 7/6/16 to 7/16/16 from early in the morning until late at night. But now they were done

and ready to pose.

Into the kiln and

fired.

Oh no, the glaze that I choose was a runny one. I didn't expect this at all.

It was even running off the bottoms.

The backs looked fine. The bit of run didn't really mess them up enough to worry about.

Not only did I find out what didn't work I found out what did. Since I wasn't going to change glazes I needed to

go to work to see how I could repair each of these. If I could do that then I would be able to fine turn any of the

final mugs that needed help. I could see this wouldn't be easy.

Mug making is a lot of work so it's a good thing I love what I do. Wendy

PS if you want to be on the waiting list for the last 29 mugs let me know, these will be done with the next Wish List #7