Guest potter Jeff Brown and little mugs

http://www.jeffbrownpottery.com/

So here is another guest potter, a fellow I know in NH. His work is breathtakingly beautiful, and one of the few potters I know who manages brown colors. In talking with Jeff, he emphasizes deliberate and thoughtful use and placement of textures and design and handles. That seems apparent to me, as you see spirals and curves gracefully coming together. Jeff’s work is very different from mine, but I enjoy talking with him because he emphasizes the careful thought that goes into a piece.
My point? I will have to add pics later, but I have decided I really like my straight sided cups with fluting. More than that, I thought they could generally be bigger, so I made some of those yesterday. But then I was using a favorite old mug of mine at lunch time. It is a commercial, industrially made diner mug. Not all that big, heavy, concave sides. It is almost indestructible, and you can guess that it would help a diner keep coffee portions down by not holding all that much. But it is a very friendly and practical mug, as it sits just so in the hand, and holds just about a triple espresso. Friendly and useful. Sooooo, I went in and threw the same straight sided mug I like, except smaller, and it will be fluted, with slightly concave sides. Pics of all this later. To conclude: my mug is improved by both going larger and smaller, which appeals to different people for different reasons. Further, making stuff everyday you go on autopilot. Although that is fine, sometimes you have to step back and rearrange your thoughts and consider what you are doing and why.