a few of my favorite things...charm breon pottery

Let me introduce you to a significant part of my life. My mug. I know it seems trivial, but this mug goes with me almost everywhere. I love everything about it. I love the rich earth color. I love the throw marks on the side that are highlighted by glaze. I love the little thumb perch. I love that it is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. This is the ultimate travel mug. It doesn't tip and it keeps tea warm because the shape keeps the heat in better than any other mug I own. I know because I've tested it.

My very good friend, Charm Breon, made this mug. Last summer she gave me my original favorite mug. One day I was coming home from early morning Qigong and toting my empty mug back into the house from the car when Sophie, my weimaraner, bonked her head on it. I heard a crack and my heart just sank. Sure enough, there was a very large crack in the cup. I tried to use other mugs, and I just couldn't do it. My tea actually tasted different. So I used the mug with the crack for 2 months until a large chunk fell out of the side.

My original favorite mug...I was doing a little brown green color study in this shot

You have to be Charm's friend to get one of these perfect mugs...so I don't have a website to refer you to unfortunately.

Let me tell you a little about Charm. Contrary to the image her name my stir up, she is one tough cookie. She was a professional mountain biker, and we raced together on a road racing team for a few years together (but that was about a lifetime and a half ago). She can outride most men on a bike. She also used to have a Harley. When I saw her a couple of weeks ago at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, I asked her what she was doing these days. She said, "I'm logging." My reply was, "of course you are."

I told Charm about my devotion to the mug she gave me the previous year. She said she would bring me another one. And true to her word, she delivered my new favorite mug on the last day of the show. And my tea has been outstanding ever since! Thanks Charm...personally, I think you should be a potter, but you'll always be one of those women that run with the wolves.

a few of my favorite things...mike yoder pottery

On Thursdays, I am going to try to share some art from some of my favorite artists. This week, I would like to share Mike Yoder’s pottery from Muddy Run Clayworks.

Years ago, I was looking for a Christmas present for John in a local gift store. I couldn’t decide between a vase that had a tree carved in it or a bowl with the same tree block printed around the outside rim. I was really torn between this choice and went back and forth for quite a while before deciding on the vase. Christmas morning, John and I sat down to open our presents. When he opened the box with the vase he got a peculiar, slightly disappointed look on his face. I was crushed. Then he handed me my gift. It was the bowl! Neither of us had ever seen this potter’s work before and had never been in the store. Each of us thought we had found something the other would be blown away because of its uniqueness. We were and still are.

I love the rustic look and natural earthy colors of Mike’s pottery. And the "tree of life" pieces are still my favorite. Mike and John worked up a deal to trade a complete set of tableware for a yet to be determined piece of furniture. So I am the proud owner of a complete set of tree of life plates, bowls, and mugs. I love that we use these handmade dishes everyday and that each one of them is different and unique. That is the beauty of truly handmade functional art.