Hand Holding: Throwing and Altering to Create Comfy Cups Madeleine Boucher

Madeleine Boucher’s always begins her forms by thinking about the hands—not just her hands when throwing and altering, but also a user's hands and how they might handle a functional pot. So she loves to experiment with altering wheel-thrown forms to create a more organic shape and aesthetic.

In today's post, an excerpt from the October 2023 issue of Ceramics Monthly, Madeleine explains how she alters cups to make them comfy to hold and use. –Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

Beginning the Form 

I use a 1-pound ball of Standard’s 182 White Stoneware Clay without grog to start. I tend to work in sets of objects and end up making 10–20 of a form in one sitting at the wheel. I make three classic pulls, shaping the clay as I go, before ribbing the pot down in order to get close to the final shape. 

In undergraduate school, I started rolling the rims of my pots for added visual weight—I like to call it “mouth aesthetics.” Visually, it gives a nice line and weight to the lip while also providing a plump surface to rest your lips upon when using the cup. I take three points on the lip and roll them up—this dictates the initial triangle shape and gives the lip an added sense of movement, like a wave. Once my form has taken on a rolled, voluminous lip and curved waist, I then clean the foot of the pot while it’s still on the wheel, creating space between it and the wheel head with a wooden rib. 

Altering the Form 

From here, I start to belly out the cup from the inside, using my fingers to further emphasize the triangle shape by pushing out. Then, the very front of my pot finally gets a bump out. The pots I make are very directional, a lot like the kilns I fire them in. When making, I think about the kiln and how these pots will fit inside. I want the flame to squeeze around and through them, much like water in a bed of river rocks. 

While the cup is still wet and on the wheel, I take my potter’s knife and start to alter. I make an ovaled diamond shape on the back end of the pot (opposite from the bump out), and cut it out. I slip and score both sides of the cutout and press them together. I use a wire tool to release the cup from the wheel and let it stiffen up before general cleanup and further shaping. 

With wet hands, I further refine the shape of the leather-hard pot off the wheel, clearly identifying the triangle shape from the inside so that the outside is more defined. I use a wet sponge to plump out the front so that the pot looks like it’s leaning back into the darted side. I tend to hand trim the foot of these pots so that each provides organic movement. With a wet palm, I clean the bottom of the foot and make a slight indent. 

I wipe the cup to a smooth surface, exposing the sand and grit already in the clay. After drying, I bisque fire to cone 06, and leave the outside of the cup unglazed. I wad and fire the cup on its side, hoping for active and lively ash and flame deposits. Inside the pot, I use a blue/green celadon as a liner glaze. 

the author Madeleine Boucher is a wood-fire potter born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a BFA in ceramics and a minor in art history. Today, she is an instructor and studio technician at the Community College of Allegheny County. She resides in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, with her partner, MK Noonan, and holds her studio practice at MadKat Studios, a studio/gallery they founded together. To learn more, visit www.madkatpgh.com/madeleineboucher.