Narrative Slab Mugs

Purpose: Make a slab mug that demonstrates connecting slabs securely, creating and attaching a handle, and illustrates a personal narrative. This should be done through the handle, textures, added-on features and/or glazing.

Mug Planning

Slab Mug Pinterest Board

Reflection

My story is about the time I was climbing a tree in the garden in our yard with our neighbor and he fell out. He ended up spraining his ankle and having to wear a boot for months. I incorporated details of the garden into the mug like the stone bench, the tree we were playing in, and different flowers and bushes that were planted throughout the garden. I added branches hanging down from the rim of the mug with white flowers like the branches of the tree. I also added butterflies and dragonflies because I always saw them in the garden and just around my yard in general. I carved a towel on the bench because right before we were climbing the tree, we had been swimming. I made the handle a branch of the tree to emphasize the importance of the tree. I had thought about making it a flower or making the towel the handle, but I think that the tree branch was the right description. I carved crutches into the bottom ring of the mug to show the injury part of the story. The last detail that I added was the footsteps that make a loop around the mug. They’re meant to lead the viewer's eyes around the mug.

I think that the first thing I would do is make the carvings of the crutches deeper because right now they are too shallow to see very well. I feel like that part of the story is a little unnoticeable at the moment. I would also find a better way to stain my bushes because when I tried wiping the glaze away it smeared all over the place. I think that would make it look a little less messy. I would also try to make the wood detail on the handle a little bit deeper. I think at the moment it’s hard to see and the handle would make more sense if it was easy to see the detail.