What's your cup size?

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A friend of mine asked me to make her four small espresso cups like one she bought a while back. I said where did ya get that??? I could never sell them. People want BIG!
It takes just as much time to make small cups as big ones. It takes just as much time to make a small teapot as a big one. So why is the price differential so wide? I’ve noticed that if I line up ten of my cups made at the same sitting the ones that are the tallest are the ones that sells first. They are getting more for their money- right!
I also don’t get a significant increase in price for my wood fired work versus my gas-fired work. In fact if I consider the entire kiln load the payload on the gas kiln is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar greater. So why do I make some small cups for a friend? Why do I bother to spend a week or more preparing for a wood firing when I could load up a gas kiln and go watch the ball game. Ooops, on second thought I don’t own a TV. I’d probably bore y’all with another blog posting or fall asleep in the arms of the yellow chair.
I guess my answer at least for today is that I make what I like to look at and what I would like to use. Fact is I don’t like to use big cups and I’m still crazy after all these years for the drab colour pallet of high fire wood. 
Here are 4 little cups I use for espresso - A lovely ornate English teacup that I use with my baby finger perched up high, Iris Dorton, Emma Smith and Linda Christianson. Oh, by the way I never use my own pots. I believe it was Warren MacKenzie that said " Using your own work is like talking to yourself."

Comments

Dennis Allen said…
I think 16 to 20 oz is my most popular so that's what I make. I just can't seem to do anything dainty.
sddonlon said…
I recently had a request for espresso cups too. So, like the total newbie, I 'hemmed' and 'hawed', and said I'd never made small cups, most folks want large coffee mugs. But, got me to thinking, maybe I'll make a set and see what happens. I doubt they'll be wildly popular, but who knows?? 😀
Nancy Blokland said…
I love your comments about the big mugs, sooooo true. What is that??? There seems to be no understanding of our process. And the never using my own pottery, I follow that one too..

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