Cut and Fold

At first I planned to make standard cups and saucers, but then decided that a larger saucer would be fun. It brought to mind the glass luncheon set my Mom used for her bridge parties in the 1950s. So here is my updated version using a bean-shaped press-mold I had made a couple years ago. I think it will be just the right size for a cup of joe and donut. I'm also made some sets with tumblers for juice and a muffin. (Pictures are before & after glaze firing.)

I start by making a paper pattern for my "folded" pieces. Clay behaves differently than paper, so it fun to see how the final piece looks.

The cups start out with a simple fan shaped pattern. The pattern has to be 12-14% larger than the desired finished size to allow for shrinkage during firing.






Here they are waiting to be loaded into the kiln for the bisque firing.