May's Mug of the Month is Here!
- Eleanor Earnhart
- May 28
- 3 min read
After weeks of testing, designing, testing, building—and then testing some more—artist Eleanor Earnhart has officially completed her mugs for May’s Mug of the Month.
From the start, she set out to push herself, experimenting with technique and form while navigating more than a few challenges (which you can read more about at the bottom of the page). But all that effort paid off when the final glaze kiln was unloaded. “The stamping process worked just how I hoped, and after a lot of glaze trials, I landed on a combo that really brought its own life to the texture and elevated the whole design,” Eleanor said.
Known for being her own toughest critic, Eleanor admitted this was one of the rare moments she felt genuinely proud of her work. “I’ve made something that kind of blows my own mind,” she shared with a laugh.
She credits the PennOhio Clay Guild not only for the opportunity, but also for the mentorship that helped her bring this vision to life. “I learned so much through this process,” she said, “and I’m excited to take all these new skills and ideas with me into my future art projects.”
Any remaining May mugs are now available for purchase—each one a testament to a thoughtful collaboration between artist, material, and design.
EDIT 5/28 AT 6:45PM: SOLD OUT
Overcoming Challenges
One of the first challenges Eleanor faced in the mug-making process was rolling out slabs of consistent thickness—a crucial step, since her surface design required pressing texture 3mm deep into the clay. The slabs needed to be just thick enough to hold the detail without creating weak spots, but any extra thickness added unnecessary weight to her already chunky mug design.
“It turns out slab rollers are not as precise as I expected," Eleanor admitted. "The edges of the slab would be perfect, but the center could be twice as thick.”
She spent two full days experimenting with different methods, going through nearly 50 pounds of clay without producing a single mug. But the time wasn’t wasted—through trial and error, she developed a system that let her batch her work more efficiently and reduce inconsistencies.
Her solution was simple but effective: after rolling a slab, she would mark out the template on it, trim away the excess clay, and then run the roller over the remaining clay again. By decreasing the surface area, the roller applied more even pressure, and the slabs came out much more consistent.
The second major hurdle came during glaze application. Eleanor began with a series of test tiles to try out different glaze combinations, then tested her favorite option on a mug. “Dipping it applied way too much glaze—it filled in the texture and wiped out all that detail I’d worked so hard to create,” she said.
Determined to get it right, she learned how to use a paint sprayer to apply glaze in thinner, more even layers. The first sprayed test came out too light. The next, with a bit more glaze, was close—but still not perfect. “By the third test, I was about 90% there. I went back through all the notes I’d taken during the process, and used what I had learned to create a plan for the final batch.”
All that hard work, testing, and planning paid off, as the results are a colorful, well balanced mug with glaze that highlights the texture without obscuring it.
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