Thinness of the rim

Before I studied ceramics I never even considered the cup I was drinking from. I did not come from a tea culture and I used to take my daily espresso at a bar with colleagues, from the normal commercial little cups they give in Italy.

Coming to England opened to me an amazing possibility of exploration both in beverages and in containers. I started to make my own cups and in the struggle of the technical difficulty of throwing, the rim was the last thing I mastered. It was a miracle if I even got to the finished rim!

I learnt to judge the aesthetics and feel of my rims only in my third year at college, when I had gained enough skill to be able to consider all the elements of my finished product.

You can see in the picture a progression from the thicker one to the wobbly one to the more elegant one. I get a lot of good feed back for the pleasure in drinking from my cups and the thin rim is always mentioned.

I find now very unpleasant to drink from cheap industrial mugs and all the ones bough years ago sit unused in the back of the cupboard and I see even my children reach for the thin handmade ones.

Strawberries

It is a long process but it is very rewarding. Every year I clear my strawberry patch select the best plants and then cover the soil between them to avoid too many weeds and slugs. I cover the bed with nets against the birds and then forget about it for three month. Suddenly I notice the red appear and then I have to wait patiently until they are ripe all over. There is always a white patch on the underside. Another challenge is to get all the way home without eating them…

Tonight it is the first time we have a reasonable amount to eat for dinner and served in my “Wave” bowl ( see http://www.ldbceramics.com for more detail on the bowls)