Kākāpō Mugs and Saucers

helping birds with art and collaboration - process post

Hi everyone! —Do you know about kākāpō?

Look at how CUTE they are! | photo by Jake Osborne

They are a species of flightless parrot in New Zealand. There are VERY FEW left (only 247 kākāpō left in the world) due to introduced predators, loss of habitat, and low fertility. It’s tough out there for these little guys. (they’re actually pretty big!)

At the beginning of this project, like all projects, I began with research! I learned that the kākāpō are a Maori treasure species; the plural form of kākāpō is “kākāpō” and it should always be written using the macrons (lines over the vowels). Thanks to Kākāpō Recovery for helping me get that right.

Okay, now that you know what a kākāpō is, let’s talk about the mugs and saucers!

Every year an organization called Artwork for Aves hosts a donation based art raffle to raise money for various bird conservation efforts. This year they chose two! Kākāpō Recovery and Save the Kiwi. A load of artists donate work to the cause.

I asked Brad (my husband and a potter) if he wanted to collaborate on the artwork this year. (to see how we like working together; to get him involved in more art/ceramic things, and to have something a little different to donate)

1 of the 5 sets we made.

The art doesn’t have to feature kākāpō or kiwi, but we couldn’t resist those round, tubby parrots.

First we did a ✨mind map✨ to figure out WHAT we would make together.

I love a mind map! It helps in finding direction early so you can work within a brief. (I’m still determined to do a whole post on mind maps.)

We decided on 5 (kākāpō themed) porcelain mug and saucer sets. (mugs and saucers are functional, accessible crowd pleasers)

The process

Brad threw the forms.
They all dried too fast and had to be scrapped.
He threw the forms again. 🙃 Apparently this happens a lot in ceramics.
(actually here’s Brad to give a quick note on his part of the process)

“I learned about Kakapo a few years ago from the YouTube channel “Bizarre Beasts” and was taken aback by how cute, and incredibly round they are. Of course, I had to incorporate that roundness into the ceramics mug forms for this project. The belly of each mug is very bulbous to mimic the roundness of the kakapo, and the handle is curved to match the kakapo beaks. I had to be very careful to keep the clay as smooth as possible so Kayla would have an easier time painting on it. Once I had the mugs and saucers thrown, I trimmed the mug feet to the same diameter, and trimmed the inside of the saucers to fit the mug foot perfectly. Then it was time to bisque and give Kayla the choice of which of the 10 mugs to paint. You always make way more than you need in ceramics.”

Test tiles

I’m back, thanks Brad! Before I even touched the mugs or saucers, I needed to see how different underglaze colors and thicknesses would look on the porcelain, which means making test tiles.

The underglaze palettes I used on the test tiles. They act a lot like watercolor. (Notice how the colors here don’t necessarily look like what they are labeled. They will after they are fired! SCIENCE!

With these I tested:

1. A light application of underglaze

2. Multiple layers of underglaze

3. painting a solid background with underglaze

The top row tiles are porcelain; the bottom row tiles are stoneware with a white underglaze applied. We still ended up using the porcelain, but wanted to test the stoneware option as it’s more affordable. It’s just so hard to compete with the quality of porcelain. Painting on it was like BUTTER, and it honestly just looks nicer.

During this process I offhandedly mentioned to a potter, who happened to be in the studio at the same time as me, (hi Xavier!) “I wish I had a nib pen that would work on pottery.” He said “Have you tried one of these” and showed me a slip trailer)

*angelic music plays*
Now THIS changed things.
But it also meant I had to make more ding dang test tiles. 😅

This is a slip trailer. It’s a squeezy ball you fill with underglaze (in this case) and use it like a pen to draw on the clay. The tips come in various sizes. I think this was the smallest.

I tested the slip trailer (with black slip/underglaze) on these 3 tiles. I needed to know if it was comfortable to use and if it could get the detail I wanted. IT DID!

The sketches

I did sketches/mockups in Procreate to figure out composition and “style”.¹ Based on everything I was pinning to my ceramics inspiration Pinterest board, I knew I wanted these to have that blue Delft tile look. (click that link to see what I’m talking about)

The mockup in Procreate. I initially wanted to have kākāpō names on them, but that didn’t happen.

I did more sketching in Procreate to play with the kākāpō shape, write notes, and determine what the decorative bits could be. I wanted the filigree to be on theme and not just random shapes. I settled on simplified pine sprigs and rimu fruit. (fun fact: kākāpō only breed when the rimu are fruiting)

After I settled on the kākāpō shape (left), I needed to determine what they would be doing on each mug, and sketch the compositions. That’s what those 5 circles are!

Once I had a good idea of what to draw and how to draw it, I sketched lightly with a graphite pencil onto the blank mugs and saucers. (The graphite burns away in the kiln.)

Painting the Mugs and Saucers

first: brush phase; second: slip trailer phase (inking); third: a saucer I needed to touch up, it was trial and error getting the consistency right for the slip trailer

Then came the part that took the LONGEST. I applied the bright blue underglaze with a brush. Then I used the slip trailer to add the line work. (just like how I’d normally use ink and a nib pen on paper) Thank you again Sarah, for letting me borrow your bright glue underglaze!

Kiln Time!

My part is finished! They went back to the studio to be bisque fired again. (Brad said this helps set the color so it won’t run or smudge when glazed)

Then they are dipped in clear glaze and go through what’s called a “glaze firing” in the kiln. (2,232 degrees Fahrenheit 🔥 over 12 hours!) This makes them SHINY, protected, and food safe! In my opinion, this is the stage where the biggest transformation happens. The pieces goes from “meh” to “WOWZA 🥵🦜👀”!

Tada!! 😍 Here they are, all 5 sets! They turned out better than I thought they would when I was painting them. :/ Trust the process and all that, right?

So much work and time goes into ceramic pieces. I had some idea of the work, but being a part of this project further opened my eyes.
I don’t understand how all ceramics aren’t priced at a million dollars.

Donate and Win Art

You can actually WIN these through Artwork For Aves’ donation raffle. (and you help kākāpō and kiwi at the same time 🥺💛) Donations are accepted through September 16th! The information / rules are on the Artwork for Aves Instagram grid AND you can see all of the beautiful artwork donated through the link in their bio or click here.

Will Brad and I work together again?

YES! We liked working together and maybe, possibly have a collection of mugs dropping this fall. 😉 (more birds? also maybe)

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you all so much! 💛 Until next time!

Bonus! Here’s the very first kākāpō sketch I did. Just a couple of little guys. 😆

An artisté!

1. I really hate this word.