The eleven fat-handled mugs came through the bisque fire unscathed. The handles stayed on. The bottoms remained intact.
I note this because years ago, when my mugs were thrown on the wheel thicker and I rushed them into the kiln sooner, once in a while a bottom blew out or a handle developed cracks. Today this is rare. First, I throw a lot thinner and the mugs can dry evenly. Second, the stoneware clay I am using this month is great for sticking together when attached, unlike my favorite porcelain which is frustratingly ready to crack at all joins.
These mugs stayed intact despite their neighbors in the kiln, a pair of chanukiot (Chanukah menorahs) that exploded quite thoroughly on the adjacent shelf, flinging big and little shards a foot all around. These were two of the chanukiot I wrote about recently, the ones with the wire at the top. They exploded because they are still earlyish prototypes of a thrown and altered form, which in this case means they are unevenly thick. And I confess, I hurriedly and insufficiently dried them, just like my first mugs so long ago. The moisture still in the thick parts escaped too quickly in the heat of the kiln, and boom... or actually more of a "whump"...
Is it a given that after 29 years of making pots I will "get it right" the first time? No. And is "right" a stable quality from one to the next? No. The odds are good that I'll figure out the angles of this particular challenge soon, though. Eventually I tend to. So: "How long did it take you to make that chanukia?" Twenty nine years and counting...
Meanwhile, these are the chanukiot that made it, a diverse lot, about to be glazed:
(Chanukiot or Chanukah menorahs, not yet glazed and fired with the shiny stuff)
And just for fun, here are the beer mugs with underglaze stripes already bisque-fired on, about to start getting some detailed glaze treatment. The big handles are hollow, by the way.
(fat (hollow) handled mugs, ready to glaze and fire with color)