Making a mug starts with wedging the clay, which is basically kneading it like bread dough to get rid of air bubbles so it doesn’t explode in the kiln. Once the clay is prepped, you center it on a spinning pottery wheel, using your palms to force the lump into a perfectly steady mound in the middle. After it’s centered, you poke a hole in the top and pull the walls up by squeezing the clay between your fingers to create the height and shape of the mug.
Once the cylinder is formed, you let it sit until it’s leather-hard—stiff enough to touch but still damp—so you can trim the bottom and scratch on a handle using a "slip and score" technique to act as glue. The mug then goes through its first firing, called the bisque fire, which turns it into hard ceramic. Finally, you dip or brush on glaze for color and waterproofing, then fire it one last time at a much higher temperature to melt the glaze into a glass-like finish.