Another throw back to a form I used to make as part of my apprenticeship at Maze Hill Pottery. This video shows how I pull the smallest handles I’ve ever made, from beginning to end.

I start by pulling off a long line of stubs, these are thicker pieces of clay that will later be attached and pulled into the final shape. I would generally pull about 60-70 in a row, if not more, so these stubs would be kept wet by spraying them periodically with water, or I’d cover them with plastic to keep them nice and malleable. They dry out especially quickly in the warmer months and it makes attaching them far slower when the outsides get crispy.

These pots aren’t turned, instead the bottom edge is smoothed over, or thumbed off as some potters say, then, the top part only is scored and slipped and the stub of clay is pushed firmly into the body of the espresso cup. I use a wetted finger to go over the join, smoothing it and securing it.

The real pulling begins afterwards, I’ve included the whole section without any editing. Of course these smaller handles are quicker to do but I definitely didn’t start out making them this quickly, it took a year or two of practice, pulling thousands upon thousands of handles to get really comfortable with it. Three ridges are made using the tip of my thumb before the handle is folded into shape and the end is nipped off and the join simply smoothed over.

These pots have been made by numerous apprentices of Lisa Hammond’s, of which I was one, they change from person to person, sometimes rather a lot, sometimes not so much. We’ve thrown them to the same dimensions and use the same clays and slips but still they change, the shapes of our hands and fingers, the way we use tools to clean off the slip on the outside, the way we choose to finish the rim and the base all change the pots so much. It was always fascinating to look over these at the pottery, observing how the apprentices before you chose to finish their pots. It would be amazing to see one espresso cup or standard ware mug from each of us, all lined up and displayed.

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