Manufacturing of a mug - the ups and downs

So here's the follow up of the guinea pig mug and how getting samples went. It definitely had some highs and lows 😅

The beginning

Making samples started with sending the manufacturer specifications of how I wanted the mug to look that included sizing, details and colors. They then got to work making a sculpt that would then be used for the mould.

This is how it looked at first before any colors were applied:

The top might look weird, but that's just needed for making the mould and the slipcasting process :) I asked for a few small revisions, but overall it already looked pretty good.

The handle revisions were the hardest part to communicate because I wanted it to be comfortable to hold, but had no way of knowing how it would feel until I got it in person.

From here there wasn't much else for me to do but wait. And after several days, I got my first photos!

Photos of the first sample

Yay! My first mug! It looked pretty good... at first glance.

When I zoomed in on the photo, I could see there were some issues. The painting looked sloppy on the nose and eye. And when I viewed more photos, there was even a bigger issue.

They forgot to paint the back of the mug!!

I was pretty concerned because this was only the first sample and there were already so many problems.

But, benefit of the doubt - maybe it was just an oversight? I'm not sure, but I told them what was wrong and they apologized and they said they would remake it.

Round 2 of samples

Within a few days, I got photos of a new sample. And I was happy because this one looked great!

The colors ended up being brighter than what I wanted, but that was my fault since they did match the colors I chose. Seeing it in these photos, I knew I wanted to have more muted/pastel colors in the next round.

However, the mug got sent to me before I could make any color changes 🙃 So I guess I'd review it in person before making any more revisions.

Up close and personal

Within a couple weeks, I had my little mug on hand. And seeing it in person, it felt totally unreal and I was really happy!

I make handmade mugs weekly, but this was a different feeling of accomplishment because if it all worked out, this mug could open up a lot of new doors.

However, upon closer inspection *again* - there were problems.

The back of the mug had some issues where the glaze was flaking off. What the heck?

And when I measured the capacity of the mug, it was smaller than what I asked for. It was 400 ml (13.5 oz) instead of 470 ml (16 oz).

Suddenly my high was becoming a low, which was really disappointing. Again, I let the manufacturer know the problems and they said they would remake it (which is in progress now), and while waiting I decided to stress test the mug.

Testing the mug

Over the next few weeks, I used the mug nonstop. I used it for coffee/tea and put it through the dishwasher and microwave daily.

And at first, it was fine... until one day when I was making tea, I heard a very curious "crackling" sound. When I went to look at the mug more closely, I was sad to see that it had formed multiple cracks.

The sudden heat stress of having boiling water poured into it caused some kind of thermal expansion that cracked the glaze.

This was the last straw.

Back to square one

So now the process restarts, to find a new manufacturer and get new samples made. I was really hoping this would work out because the whole process is a lot of work. But, I simply can't work with this company since they weren't able to make even one quality mug, let alone 1000.

On the upside, I've found a different manufacturer that seems really promising. They even offer speckled clay! So I'm in the process of getting new samples made by someone else and will share that once it's ready.

As for this crackled mug, it will live in my cabinet as the only one of its kind.