Making a muffin pan out of clay can be complicated, but it’s also fun, good practice, and an attention-getter. Muffins bake well in a stoneware pan and a bonus is you can make a pan with however many cups you want. I make my muffin cups to fit a standard paper muffin cup, which is 2 inches wide at the bottom and 1¼ inches tall.

1 Throw seven muffin cups to the exact same width and height. Use calipers and a scale to aid in measuring them. 2 Use a Japanese tombo to measure the muffin cups if you want to throw them off the hump.

3 Arrange the cups on the underside of a rolled and pre-cut slab. Use a decorating disk to space them evenly. 4 Trace around all the muffin cups, then use an X-Acto blade to cut out the circles one at a time.

5 Brush slip or magic water around the rim of each cup and push it into the hole. Smooth a thin coil around each cup. 6 Flip the muffin pan over and carefully blend the edge of each cup into the top of the slab.

7 For a four-cup pan, use a ruler to cut off the edges of the pan. Use a Surform rasp to finish the cut edges. 8 Glaze the finished 7-cup muffin pan with a food-safe glaze, then fire it to temperature. Now it’s ready to use!

From the Pottery Making Illustrated January/February 2016 issue.

Topics: Functional Pottery, Handbuilding Techniques

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