the julian sauce

It's a sort of hand-formed but taking inspiration from the way pulling handles works. There's a pottery rib tool that helps make the indent as the clay is pulled horizontally. Then once it's long enough and the right width, it's cut down to a length that can fit on the mug.

I've seen how meticulous a process this last part is: there needs to be enough room that all 4 fingers can fit without touching the mug body, but not so much that it's sticking out a bunch. The top of the handle shouldn't be too far from the top of the mug. But it shouldn't be too close either. The bottom of the handle should be high enough that it can sit in one of our convex coasters or on a tea saucer without clanking. The handle itself shouldn't be to round nor too square because that can be uncomfortable. The thickness should be enough to feel secured.

After all of that, the attachment process is pretty quick in comparison and the clay is kind of just blended into the mug body

I think the handles are maybe my favorite part of my partner's pottery because of how intentional and pretty they are while still being utilitarian