I was blessed with a project to make 100 personalized mugs for some brilliant minds that attended the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California. I made some test mugs to gauge the size they wanted and different glaze options for them to choose from. After a large and regular size was determined, a glaze combination was selected. I went to work throwing cylinders on the wheel. I became a machine, pumping these out of quarter pound and one pound balls of clay that I recycled at the studio. Each handle was made identically and attached to have a classic hand hold.
Once fired to a low temperature, the clay hardens and goes through a chemical reaction preventing the clay from dissolving again. That's when I glazed them and Cheryl did the calligraphy of each persons' name on one side and MSRI on the other. We had a spreadsheet of each persons' name, whether they were left or right handed and what size they wanted. Each mug was stamped with the MSRI logo and fired again to their final maturation point of about 2350 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Tenmoku glaze used on the inside breaks on the ridges that my fingers made on the inside of the mug while throwing it on the wheel.
The fact that MSRI wanted to present their people with hand made mugs says a lot about them as an organization. They could have easily gone online and ordered some fabricated mugs made in china printed with decals, but they didn't. The care I put into each individual mug reflects how MSRI cares about each individual they bring to study from around the world. I'd be thrilled to get a personalized, locally made cup -- Neighbor please!