A unique and sacred pair of high-fired ceramic cups.

• big cup: 9 ounces, 4 in. x 3.25 in.

• small cup: 6.5 ounces, 3.6 in. x 2.8 in.

The interior of each pair of the cups were treated with glaze, and the outside demonstrate the effect of the wood firing.

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These lumps of clay have taken a long journey of transformation and travels!

A bag of clay and an invitation given in Detroit…. Thrown and bisque fired in Chicago, then carefully tucked into a suitcase and taken by train to Albion, Michigan.

There the cups were glazed, and fired in an 18-foot whale shaped wood-fire kiln based on 5th century anagama, together with a trusted kin of invited ceramic artists. The kiln took two days to load. Wood was stoked into the kiln for 5 days around the clock in shifts. I was on the night shifts; it was rainy and snowy. The kiln took a week to cool down and a day to unload.

The wood kiln was fired to cone 12 (approx. 2372 F), producing a brilliant white incandescence and a tremendous amount of wood ash, which liquefies and coats everything in the kiln with a natural glaze, creating a variety of effects from the flame paths, whether the pots were coated in glaze ahead of time or not. They are all uniquely different, impacted by the objects placed nearby to them as well.

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microwave safe, wash gently without abrasives