Seconds Sale! Dragon Scale Mug

“What is a Seconds Sale?”

Working in clay can be a bit unpredictable at times. Things crack, warp, or develop all manner of unwanted characteristics.

Seconds Sales give these functional, if less-than-perfect, mugs a chance to find a home — at a discount.

Again, all of the mugs are 100% functional, they just have aesthetic flaws that mean you get to save a bit of money if you decide to take them home.

“Why is this piece a second?“

The glaze stuck to the shelf, so I had to grind off much of the lifted foot.

The mug with the thinner lip also has a more warped shape.

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*No dragons were harmed in the creation of these mugs.

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Each piece is slab-built and meticulously sculpted and glazed to look like the the hard scales of this iconic fantastical creature, framed and shaped by metal into a mug.

This collection is the first of this particular design I’ve made. As I’m still refining the design, future collections are likely to be more expensive.

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Centuries ago, when cartographers drew monsters at the edges of maps, people believed they were there.

When tales of the Sirens or Cerberus trekked across the cultural landscape of the ancient world, they were generally believed to be true.

Monsters have had a long history with humanity, and with the film and video game industries bringing those creatures to life with ever-developing technology, it is hard to imagine that that history will not always also be a part of our present.

This lingering fascination with the fantastic — even in a world with maps that have longitude and latitude lines instead of dragons and chimeras at the edges — inspires this series of ceramic vessels.

By using these vessels, we interact with the long relationship monsters have with humanity, perhaps understanding that at one time it would have been reasonable to believe that the creatures at the edges of maps were as real as the cup in your hand.

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— Holds about 12 fl. oz.

— Food, dishwasher, and microwave safe.

— Because each mug is handmade and unique, there will be minor differences in size, shape, and glaze finish from the photo shown.

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Each mug is made one-at-a-time, by hand, by me, in my studio in Sacramento, CA.

(No shadowy assistants mass-producing these in the background — just me, my pottery wheel, my kiln, and a lot of podcasts.)

Browse all my designs on my website, and follow the process on Instagram and Tiktok (@lindseymdillon)