WALLYWARE

A new crop of deluxe funny mugs!

Here’s a nice little window to the creative process here at my studio.  At the end of the day when we painted these prototype mugs, I broke out the “Confetti Plus” to celebrate the event (and make a nice shot for this blog post).    It’s always fun coming up with new designs, and I think these ones have some really nice ideas happening. You may purchase them at my online store.

“IT’S FUN FRIDAY!!” – Created on a Friday morning, I think this mug could start a revolution in the American workplace.  Roller skating to work, free donuts, putting booze in your coffee and playing practical jokes are just the things to bring this country back to greatness.

“WE GET MESSED UP BY FORCES THAT WE JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND” – This line comes from the song, “Tell Me About Your Drugs” by Robyn Hitchcock.  This lyric led to a nice musing on the range of things that cause us problems.  I love the way these images are a mix of weird, dark, funny and mysterious.

“BE MY BABY, BE MY HONEY… IF YOU DON’T, I’LL BEAT YOU BLOODY!!” – Another great lyric here, this time from my favorite riot grrrl band, Lust-Cats of the Gutters.  They just got a nice write-up in Bust magazine.  Check it out.

“IT’S TIME TO GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH OUR IMAGINARY FRIENDS” – I really like this one, especially the character, “Colonel Ducky”.  I’m thinking he’s a caustic revolutionary war hero who drinks too many mint juleps and ruefully laments the decline of The South.  For the record, I never had an imaginary friend as a child.

That’s why they call her, “Your Highness”!

All hail the queen of caffeine!  She rules the land with a shaky hand!

Oh man, this one was designed with sales in mind because it falls back on two time honored themes: cuteness and caffeine.  Right now I only have one in stock but I’m pretty sure I’ll be making more in the near future.  If you want to claim this throne as your own, get over to the online store ASAP!!!!

How do you murder your oreo cookie?

“Let’s pretend that the cookies are people and the milk is a vat of acid.”

I grew up in the 1960’s in a neighborhood chock full of half-crazed catholic kids doing all kinds of weird things all the time, so when I hear the phrase “getting in touch with your inner child”, it kind of creeps me out.  Today’s mug celebrates one’s weird inner child and the idea came to me when I pulled the blank mug off the shelf and realized it would be a good shape for dipping cookies.  Until I get another firing out, this is a one of a kind, so head on over to the online store if you want to be the only person in the world who has this unique design.

I’m just working for the man.

For the past two months I’ve been working for the U.S. Census going door to door collecting information from residents here in Jefferson County, Colorado. It’s my first “real” job outside of making pottery since I graduated from college in 1978 and the experience has had its share of highs and lows.  I generally like the work, but that small percentage of people who want to use you as a human punching bag can really make the job suck.  I’ve got this pipe dream of writing a “2010 Census Worker Confessional” comic book to share all the stories about the people I’ve encountered. It’s a long shot that this book will come to fruition but it’s fun to think about.  I think the best thing about working for the U.S. Census is the fact that it’s made me really appreciate that I make pottery for a living.

Today’s offering in my week long mug-aganza goes out to all those people who have crappy jobs in big byzantine corporations.  The federal government is one such organization and I can relate.  “We’re just hapless souls working for an evil corporation” can be found in the funny mugs section of the online store.

Celebrating one’s abusive muse.

Here’s a unique cup and saucer designed for the artist who has to has to force himself to get to work.  Is it semi-autobiographical? You bet! I only have one of these in stock, so head on over to the online store to to snap it up.

In other words, decaf is a false idol.

Java is a time honored theme in my work.  It’s no secret that a coffee mug with a good joke about caffeine, the joy of guzzling your morning brew, or the horrors of decaf will have a solid fan base.  100 million Americans drink 350 million cups of coffee each day, which explains why roughly half of the pots I make are coffee mugs.  To get your hands on this new religious object, speed on over to the online store!

Here’s more proof that I might be loosing my mind.

OK…. I think this is a really great coffee mug.  If you agree with me and you want to own it, you better get over to my online store ASAP because I only have one in stock right now.  This design just kind of came to me in a flash and I like the way it makes fun of the people who are always telling other people how to be when they in fact are that way themselves.  There is probably even more under the surface here, but let’s not get into it, OK?  I did a series of weird and wonderful “deluxe” mugs last week and I’ll be posting little write-ups on them every day this week just for fun.  So come back tomorrow and check out my latest ceramic oddity!

Going green and going up in flames.

“Fran had her skin dyed green to accentuate her love of Mother Earth and to show everyone that she was truly “going green”

I came up with this new mug design idea last week on Earth Day.  I’ve always felt that contemporary environmentalism is more about looking and feeling green than actually being green.  Because to actually be green, you can’t take cool trips to Hawaii or live in a nice big house in the mountains like we do here in Evergreen.  Yes, I suppose I am a bit of a curmudgeon and deserve to be run over by a Prius.  I should also disclose that this mug is an homage to my old friend and hero, Fred Babb.  He’s been a longtime influence on my work and this one looks like something out of his 1995 “Friends and Relatives” calendar.  Thanks for all the cosmic inspiration over the years, Fred!

And here’s one more item in a long series of pots with flammable imagery.  What’s up with that?  Why am I so compelled to make all these vessels with stuff burning on them?  No, I wasn’t down by the old tire warehouse last week when it went up in flames…. really…. that wasn’t me…. I was home firing my kiln and it’s my airtight alibi.

If you want to buy some of these hot and cool new items, just go to the online store.

Bright red dinnerware!! Lust Cats of the Gutters are media darlings!!!

Here’s something completely different….. dinnerware that is 100% humor free! We just rolled out a kiln load with this really wonderful set of these ohata khaki glazed dishes for our own use at home.  I really love this iron saturated glaze and it makes me want to make more of these simple pots.  If anyone out there reading this is looking for a new set of dinnerware, send me an email and we can talk prices.

Last week was a good one for my daughter, Robin.  It started when her riot grrrl band, “Lust Cats of The Gutters” received an impressive write up in famed rock critic Everett True’s blog.  A few days later the Denver Post Reverb music blog featured their song, “Nothing Cool Happens on Dates” in the “steal this track” feature.  Then a few days later their debut CD (it’s really just a demo they recorded a while back in our basement) got a positive review in Denver’s “Westword” newspaper.  How cool is all this?!!!!  And to top it all off, she turned twenty-one on Friday!

Cute babies, levitation and severed heads.

Yes, I am using this adorable baby to shamelessly sell pots.  The customer who sent me the photo gave me permission to use it under the stipulation that I “don’t turn it into one of those creepy animated baby commercials”.  No problem.  I’m barely competent at Photoshop software so I assure you this is as far as it goes.

The above plate is a great example of how a good input can lead to a lovely gift item.  All the words were written by the customer and my job was to simply put her idea on the plate.  At first it seemed like a tall order, but the dinner plate size lends itself well to ambitious designs and this one was surprisingly easy to implement once I got working on it.  The only thing I need to stress to those of you who want me to do things like this is that you need to think of the idea because my brain kind of locks up when I’m asked to “do something funny about golf”, or whatever.

I love this new mug because of the “hook” at the bottom right.  I would bet that we’re going to get customers at fine craft galleries asking the salespeople, “Do you have one of these without the bloody severed head?”

And my new Wally adventure was inspired in part by the fact that I’m training for my first ultra marathon.  On May 1st I’ll be doing a 50K (31 mile) trail race in Larkspur, CO.  The week before last I put in an epic 90 miles in seven days and this design came into my head during one of my long runs.  I love the subtext of the joke which is, “If I were to just eat, think and exercise correctly, amazing things would happen to me.”  This joke is available in mugs, plate and bowls at my online store.