How much time does it take to make a mug?
The most common question at Christmas markets is always, ‘how long does it take to make?’
At a late night studio session yesterday, with my Uber 4 minutes away, I realised that I can attach a handle in 5. Ish.
There’s a few ways of working out how long a mug might take to make. As a part-time potter with limited space, I’m not able to make huge batches. The quickest I can commit to is making 15-20 mugs within 4 weeks - also considering that I’ll make 25 mugs and choose the nicest for the order.
Hands-on time per mug
3 mins to wedge and weigh
8 mins to throw with 10 years practice!
1 day to dry, turning it to dry evenly
5 mins to trim the foot
6 mins to make and attach handles
4 days of slowly drying under plastic
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18 hour firing to 1000°c (called a bisque fire)
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Testing of glaze fit and colour effects
10 mins to make the glaze
30 seconds to wax the base, 2 mins to dry
20 seconds to pour the inside and dip the outside of the mug in glaze
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22 hour firing to 1220°c, cone 6 (called a glaze fire)
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Hands on time per mug: 23 minutes, plus moving them from place to place.
6 days monitoring drying - varies depending on weather and humidity.
In winter things just stay wet forever!
40 hours in the kiln
Time it takes to make a mug: 8 days
Sculpting and attaching handles
Sculpting the handles is a process I’ve worked on carefully - to get the right level of delicacy but a strong and comfortable hold.
Loading and unloading the kiln
You’ve got to be gentle and careful not to knock anything! I ‘tumble-stack’ my bisque kilns so that they’re as efficient with space and energy as possible. That means they’re all carefully balanced, foot-to-rim.
Glazing the bisque ware
It can all go wrong in the final firing if the glaze recipe isn’t chemically balanced or if it’s not for the temperature you’ll be firing at. We use cones to check how ‘well baked’ the pots are - it tells us how hot they got and for how long.