This short project was my first succesful attempt at throwing a ceramic pot. I chose to focus on coffee cups, mainly because I used to drink about a gallon of the stuff every day during college. The problem I found with existing coffee cups is that they're just not comfortable to hold by the handle, because of the amount of pressure they can put on the fingers. To tackle this problem, I stopped using the handle all together and simply resorted to holding the cup asif it were a glass, using my entire hand to grip.

 

So I thought, why not make a cup that is designed to be held in this way? In my interpretation of the perfect coffee cup I chose to make the handle smaller than most conventional handles, essentially just large enough to fit the thumb through. The base of the cup is then supported by the fingers. This distributes the weight of the cup across the entire hand, making it extremely comfortable to hold, very secure as the handle is looped around the thumb, yet still easy to drink from. The cup is thick a the bottom to aid stability and insulate the users hand to prevent burning, but much thinner at the top to give a feel of quality. The thin rim also makes the cup more comfortable to drink from.

 

I chose to use neutral earthy colours for the glaze, with a raw, dry finish on the inside and a glossy pearlescence on the outside. There is a variation in the colour all over the cup due to the use of Reduction firing in a Gas heated kiln, which adds to the rustic hand made quality of the finished product