Monday, December 25, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 25th day of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): Christmas is a wrap!

P (Potter): Not really, Christmas is all about the people and visits, good food and social times. Feels like that part is just beginning.

PW: It was a bit hectic leading up. We've got a couple weeks now to chill.

P: And to reflect on this last year. What's ahead and what might be different for us this year.

PW: I've enjoyed this writing exercise with you.

P: We should keep to up.

PW: But we are out of whiskey.

P: Oh, that's what I should have gotten you for Christmas!

Whiskey cup $40
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
Empty bottle of whiskey included. 









Saturday, December 23, 2017

December Dialogue



On the 23rd day of December, my true love said to me....


PW (Potter's Wife): We missed a few days.

P (Potter): Yeah well we've been pretty busy.

PW: Not to mention the power outage from the crazy snowstorm.

P: Exactly! We went skiing.

PW: And had a birthday party!

P: And loaded a kiln!


PW: Good thing we posted four tumblers on the 20th. It's like we were planning to be so busy.

P: Who plans to be so busy?

PW: December is just like that.

P: It's time to relax for a few days I think. Isn't it Christmas soon.

PW: In two days.

P: Great! Let's have some of the special whiskey to celebrate.

Whiskey cup $40To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
For the extra special whiskey in your cupboard. Recommended 18 yr old Lagavulin. 







Wednesday, December 20, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 20th day of December, my true love said to me....

P (Potter): How much snow do you think we got? 

PW (Potter's Wife): In the last 24 hours? 

P: 30 cm would be my guess.

PW: It was a lot.

P: Enough to justify the tumbler rule.

PW: Which rule is that?

P: When it snows more than the height of an average tumbler, it warrants a mandatory trip to the ski hill.

PW: And then come home to a beer?

P: Sounds like the perfect balance to me. Work hard, play hard.

Tumblers $40 each
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
Tall and frosty.  














Tuesday, December 19, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 19th day of December, my true love said to me.....


SNOW DAY!




Monday, December 18, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 18th day of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): What would you put in this bowl?

P (Potter): Cereal. Or anything that you want to scoop onto your spoon easily.

PW: Rice? We do call them rice bowls, sell them as such.
P: Salsa, oatmeal...

PW: Pistachios?

P (Potter): It about the containment. Whether it is a closed or open form. Certain foods are suited to more containment. Some need less containment. 

PW: Like soup? 

P: Containment is a concept that is impossible to ignore as a potter. Everything is made to contain something, whether it be flowers, liquid, food..

PW: It's somewhat similar to the type of drinking vessel you would choose for a specific beverage, eh?

P: Yeah.

PW: What about the surface? Does the surface of the pot make you want to put something specific in it?

P: Sometimes. Especially if I'm geeking out on the culinary. 

PW: Maybe if it were a collaboration with a chef... 

P: Yeah, I'd be into that.

Rice bowl $45
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
What would you put in it? 

Sunday, December 17, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 17th day of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): Christmas eve is only a week away.

P (Potter): I really wish we had some ramen.

PW: We still don't have our Christmas tree. And it's Roscoe's birthday on Tuesday.

P: I have some rice bowls we could post.

PW: What?

P: It's finally snowing. Hill tomorrow?

PW: I think we need eggs.

P: What's that?

PW: It was really great to see Isla in her element today. She worked so hard for her bake sale.

P: Yeah. She's golden.

Golden Yunomi $45
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
One of a kind.


Saturday, December 16, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 16th day of Christmas, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's wife): I was too tired last night to post. Can we pick two out for today?

P (Potter): Sure

PW: How about these two?

P: I was planning to re-fire those in this next firing.

PW: But they are beautiful. What about them makes you want to re-fire them?

P: I think they could be better.

PW: Better, how?

P: I'm just after a surface with more depth. More layers, more depth, less orange.

PW: I wonder if people know that pots can be re-fired over again, and again.

P: We've had people visit the studio and try to convince me that they love certain pieces and want to buy it as is. If I'm going to put my name on something and put it out in the world, it should be the way I want it to be. But I have been convinced before to let them go.

Same mugs, backside, reversed order
PW: Even when you are not happy with it entirely?

P: That's the challenge for me. When someone finds something beautiful in a piece, and they really appreciate it for what it is, it's hard to not let them purchase it. But I think about those pieces after the fact. It's complicated. Expectations of the surfaces I want, but an exploration of what else can be achieved.

PW: So will you re-fire these two?

P: Yep.

Soda fired mugs.
Not for sale - slated for next firing.
Will post again, stay tuned





Thursday, December 14, 2017

December Dialogue




On the 14th day of December, my true love said to me...

PW (Potter's Wife): Today felt epic.

P (Potter): Long day for sure. Getting ready for a firing always is a bit crazy.

PW: I'm glad you didn't push to load tonight. The timing is going to be what it is going to be.

P: Gives me a bit of room for thinking about the firing and what surfaces I'm after with this next one.

PW: Will you try again for something like the last firing, those frothy white surfaces with the quartz inclusions?

P: Those surfaces are pretty compelling. A gradation between pure black and pure white.

PW: Probably pretty hard for people to believe that those cups were loaded as raw porcelain into the kiln, with no applied glaze whatsoever. Just the soda, doing its magic in the process.

P: That's the beauty of firing atmospherically. Whenever I see something new come out of the kiln, like this, it epitomizes my desire to keep searching. To me that firing represents the endless variation that can come out of atmospheric kilns just by changing a variable.

PW: If this tumbler had a name, what would it be?

P: Hmm. Put it out to the blog-o-sphere...ask them.

Soda fired Tumbler $50
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
What name would you call it?






Wednesday, December 13, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 13th of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): Did you get the second bisque kiln loaded?

P (Potter): I did. Might blow something up in the bottom, but the mugs should be fine. They are loaded closer to the top.

PW: Another quick turn around eh?

P: You know me.

PW: How many mugs do you think you make in a year?

P: A lot. I love making mugs. They are kind of like my business card.

PW: You have quite a few different designs for those business cards.

P: What do you think about this one? It came out of the last train kiln firing.

PW: I love the darted handled mugs. They remind me of someone standing with one arm akimbo, don't you think?

P: I do like the gesture. And the wood ash on the hip.

PW: Not to mention the belly button!

Wood fired mug $45
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
Hip design.




Tuesday, December 12, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love said to me...


P: I forgot to put plastic wrap on those mugs before I left for hockey last night.

PW: Does that mean they will be too dry to attach the handles now?

P: No, I think they'll be okay.

PW: Being a potter is really a job in moisture control, isn't it.

P: It was John Neely that I first heard say that in grad school, when I was his TA. He told his students they had all just signed up for a degree in moisture management.

PW: Well it's a good thing your studio is home based. For all those times you remember in the middle of the night about the plastic wrap.

P: You know me.

PW: Yunomi?

Wood fired Yunomi $45
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
For the handleless tea cup lover in your life! 

(Yunomi - Japanese name for informal teacup. Form is taller than it is wide, with a trimmed foot. Handleless.)

Monday, December 11, 2017

December Dialogue



On the 11th day of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's wife): Did you see the mug that Judy had today with her when she came over?

P (Potter):  It's always interesting to see people travel with a handmade mug. 

PW: We do that all the time? 

P: I know, but it's not an easy thing to do, really. Think about it. There are a million mass produced drinking vessels that are made specifically to travel, right? 

They are designed for temperature retention, made to be leak and spill resistant, stability... They even have to be easy to open with one hand?!? 

PW: And fit ever so nicely into the cup holder. 

P: Right. 

PW: But, yours are also designed for temperature retention and easy to pick up with one hand. Your handles are lovely. 

P: But, not exactly spill resistant, especially on bumpy mountainous roads. 

PW: You do have to have a pretty steady hand.

P: You have to really love handmade pottery.  That's commitment. 

PW: Commitment to handmade. 

P: Yep.

Wood fired Stein $50
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
Are you committed? 








Sunday, December 10, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): We're home!

P (Potter): How did the Holiday Baking workshop go?

PW: Awesome. Look what we made!

P: Mini Eclairs?

PW: Choux pastry! With cream filling and chocolate mint ganache actually ....

P: Wow. Let's eat them.

PW: Let's make some tea first. I think they'll go really well with some peppermint tea.

P: So it was a good experience?

PW: It was terrific. I love what they are doing there at the Valley Kitchen, such a great space, and Kootenay Food is going to run more classes there too, a whole culinary series.

P: Tea's ready. Spade plates to serve them up?

PW: Perfect.


Wood fired spade plate $25
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
Perfect for puff pastries. 


Saturday, December 9, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 9th day of December, my true love said to me....


PW (Potter's Wife): Can we have an aeropress coffee this morning?

P (Potter): No espresso?

PW: I just feel like prolonging our coffee ritual today. It didn't snow last night, so there is no rush to get up to the hill.

P: Sounds good. I'm down with a lazy morning.

PW: Isn't it interesting how sometimes volume is the deciding factor in a purchase? I've noticed at times, when someone has narrowed it down to a few different mugs and they love the surfaces and forms of all of them, but can't decide which one to buy, I'll ask them what they like to drink.

P: Even just the different types of coffee and varied rituals people have. Demi-tasse for a macchiato to the full bodied aeropress mug.

PW: And everything in between.

P: That new coffee shop in town won't even serve coffee to go. It forces you to slow down literally. Remember that hole in the wall Italian coffee shop in Melbourne we went to? They had the same philosophy, no coffee to go. The point was about enjoying the coffee experience.

PW: And the company;)


Wood fired porcelain mug $45
To purchase, email robin@robindupont.com
How do you take your coffee? 

Friday, December 8, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 8th day of December, my true love said to me...


PW (Potter's Wife): How was your day?

P (Potter): It was a good day. I picked up that metal for the display shelf. I made a dozen tumblers, three, 1 gallon crocks and pugged 300 lbs of clay for tomorrow.

PW: So, productive then?

P: Yeah. How was your day?

PW: Yeah, good. I finished those reports finally. And a bunch of loose ends. I pulled out all our gear too.

P: Are we going to the hill tomorrow?

PW: I thought we should. You did pug 300 lbs of clay today. And I sat in front of the computer for 8 hours. Wouldn't it be good to go for a few laps? Balance is what we're after isn't it?

P: Has it snowed up there at all this week?

PW: Earlier in the week, I think. Let's post this mug tonight. It looks as though it has big, fat snowflakes on the top half.

P: An ode to Ullr.

PW: We'll call it the Ullr mug.


Wood fired Mug $45
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Ullr mug - may or may not induce precipitation.




Thursday, December 7, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 7th day of December, my true love said to me....


PW (Potter's wife): Today turned out to be an awesome day.  That project I've been working on for the last couple months wrapped up on a high note. When I woke up this morning I was nervous that everything was going to come together, but it did. 

P (Potter): And now we can celebrate. 

PW: It is beer-thirty after-all.

P: It'd be fun to do a collaboration with one of the local brew pubs in town. Maybe an event where we host a tasting, but with my cups instead. Buy a beer, and a ceramic cup!  Or buy the cup and get the beer for free. 

PW: I don't think the brew pub would go for that. 

P: Ok, what if we just have a beer cup shelf in our house instead. Like our mug shelf. Then when people come over to drink beer, they can pick a cup off the shelf. 

PW: What if they don't want beer? 

P: They can drink water then out of them. Or orange juice. 

PW: That's a big cup of orange juice. 

P: It is flu season. 

PW: And holiday party season too. 

Wood fired Tumbler $50
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
For beer, or orange juice, just not both at the same time. That's gross.






Wednesday, December 6, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 6th day of December, my true love said to me....


P (Potter): I'm tired tonight. 

PW (Potter's wife): Me too.

P: I picked this cup out because I think it speaks for itself. 

PW: Fair enough. We're done then. 

P: But I'm not even finished my whiskey yet.

PW: I am.  





Soda fired mug $45
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Bottoms up! 



Tuesday, December 5, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 5th day of December, my true love said to me....


PW (Potter's Wife): Ah, the dimple mug!

P (Potter): But different!

PW: How so?

P (Potter): Well, yes this cup is a variation of a cup I've been making for awhile but more for the soda kiln. With these being wood fired, I wanted to experiment more both with the material and the process.

PW: Same form, different kiln?

P: No, I'm actually throwing them thicker. Then I roll a roulette over the exterior surface, fleshing out the from from the inside.

PW: The texture reminds me a little of linen.

P: I tend to use texture in wood firing more than for soda pots. The way the flame and ash interacts with the pot, there are more variables at play than with a soda atmosphere.

PW: And this isn't porcelain, is it?

P: I've been developing some darker clay bodies, to experiment with the palette. I've realized that my motivation for making things has more to do with the learning than it has to do with repeating something that I already know. Which is why I am constantly experimenting. There is so much learning that takes place when you take chances.

PW: No two pots alike?

P: All one of a kind.

Wood fired Mug $45
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Can be irreplaceably yours this holiday season...








Monday, December 4, 2017

December Dialogue

On the 4th day of December, my true love said to me: 


PW (Potter's Wife): Can you make me another coffee this morning?

P (Potter): Sure

PW: It's a two cup kind of Monday.

P: A strong one? 

PW: Yes, and some latte art too. 

P: Ha, Ha

PW: I love the way the tawny crema looks in these white porcelain cups. Its such a contrast. 

P: A good pot should be able to stand on its own. That's what these cups are about. Take away all the distraction of a busy surface. Clear glaze over a pure porcelain body. Fired atmospherically, but you wouldn't know except for a tiny bit of carbon trapping on the bottom. 

PW: But this surface is still complex. Look at the crackle in the glaze. And there is movement in the form, it looks soft. 

P: I'm trying to capture that fluidity of wet porcelain on the wheel. Even after its fired, it still speaks of softness. 

PW: And what's with the saucer?

P: I don't know, just a trying it on for size. 

PW: Hmm

Cup & Saucer $60
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Locals Special: Free coffee made by Robin with purchase



Sunday, December 3, 2017

December Dialogue


On the 3rd day of December, my true love said to me.....


PW: Did you see the full moon tonight? 

P: Yes. The cloud cover is breaking up a little. 

PW: The surface of this cup reminds me of clouds at night. 

P: Really? It reminds me of the texture of an orange or a lemon. It has a rare, waxy matte surface to it. That's the result of slow cooling the soda kiln. 

PW: Look at the back side of it. It's totally different. 

P: There is a lot of depth to this surface. It's hard to really capture the true likeness in a photograph of it. Can you see these crystals growing over the hard shiny glaze underneath?

I can't remember the sand I used in this clay body. But I know it is different than the normal kind I use. See these more deeply corroded pockets of sand? The soda eats away at the quartz sand particles. It's erosion. 

PW: Looks like this one got hammered with soda, on all sides? 

P: Yeah, it has a nice coating. It's well balanced, all around. Not overstated in anyway. The lip undulates, in a similar way to the movement in the trimming lines at the bottom. There is a kind of subtle fluidity to the whole cup, from the foot to the belly to the lip. 

PW: Ah, balance. A hard thing to achieve sometimes. In life...

P: The ski hill opens on Friday. 


Yunomi cup $45
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Perfect for an après ski Hot Toddy

Hot Toddy Recipe:
Boiling water
4 cloves
Lemon or Orange twist
2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 oz fresh lemon juice
2 oz bourbon, rye whiskey, or scotch 




December Dialogue

On the 2nd day of December, my true love said to me....


PW (Potter's Wife): Do you have any more shot glasses from that firing? 

P (Potter): Yes, why? 

PW: Well, we could have sold that first one I posted three times over! So I thought it would be a good idea to post another one today.

P: How about this one? 

PW: Oh sweet, it's like a his and hers. 

P: Did you know that for me this form is all about that little spot where your fingers sit when you lift the cup?  Just above the foot, where your fingers can easily nestle into. It's kind of ridiculous how much I think about that spot. 

Here, hold it. 

PW: Do you think people that use your cups think about that spot? 

P: Maybe. One of my friends who is a potter told me he loves these cups because for him it's as though the cup is holding onto him - it just fits that well in his fingers 

PW: Hmm

P: Perhaps they're more likely to think about why the surface is the way that it is. Kind of the potter's dilemma, rectifying the form - surface dilemma. I do like the surfaces of these cups. There is a quality that is hard to explain. I've heard many different explanations for it. It's kind of shimmery, you know the way that ice shimmers, how it can have both matte and shiny surfaces at the same time - creating depth. I've also heard it described similar to sugar. The way light refracts off its crystal structure. 

And the black specks on the inside are iron spots. I mix local sand into the porcelain, just to make it dirty, or give it more depth. 

PW: Whoa, that's deep. 

P: I guess that's what happens when we drink whiskey and talk about pots late at night. 



Whiskey Cup $35
To purchase email robin@robindupont.com
Whiskey still not included.