This piece started out as a lovely little mug. The cup was thrown perfectly and the handle turned out great, but one clumsy moment of mishandling knocked the handle clean off. The shape was just too nice to throw away, so I was determined to save it. I initially tried to lean into a bug theme to cover the damage, but nothing I came up with seemed to make sense, so it ended up sitting on my desk for weeks.
That is, until I watched the new Spider-Man movie and inspiration finally struck. I took the two spots where the handle had broken off, filed them smooth, and transformed them into protruding bricks for Spidey and Gwen to attach their webs to!
When it came to finishing the piece, I had to be careful. The clear glaze in my studio has a bad habit of smearing my colors, and I absolutely didn’t want to risk the firing process blurring out my fine lines. To avoid this, I only glazed the rim. This left the main body feeling a bit chalky to the touch—likely the natural finish of the Speedball and Spectrum underglazes.
To protect the artwork without ruining the details, I opted to finish it with three coats of varnish instead. It’s definitely not microwave-safe anymore, but since no one else is allowed to use this cup anyway, I don’t have to worry about any kitchen accidents!
