Smile handmade Coffee tumbler

Speckled pink, semi-translucent glazed, hand-built, coffee tumbler. Hand-built by Chloe as a demonstration for the C3Cave Christmas event. Chloe doesn’t make the same piece twice… every piece is different in shape, colour or texture. Chloe’s art reflects her process of healing through difficulties, not what sells on the shelves. I’m Chloe, and I was excited for this piece as I wanted to create a coffee tumbler that resembles what my dreams are for the future. I’m aiming to own a coffee shop to facilitate multiple creative workshops. Life hasn’t been easy, and creating this tumbler with ‘smile’ carved into it reminds me that this is only the start of my journey. A few of my pieces currently show the same characteristics of revealing raw clay under the glaze. When it comes to my pieces, I deliberately only painted a light coat of glaze onto my pieces to make them have a patchy appearance, revealing the authenticity of the raw clay. I know this is a weird concept because the process of making pottery and ceramics is costly, so why would I deliberately make something knowing that consumers wouldn’t want to buy patchy work? My art is for my healing and to help others heal as well. if someone wishes to buy, then I know it’s because the piece or my mission speaks to their heart. With this tumbler, I thought to myself, why should it look perfect… I’m not. Why should we humans cover up all the parts of ourselves we haven’t healed or are ashamed of? why not smile through the healing with our goals in mind. I’m building my enterprise to encourage people to learn how to heal through art, heal what has been rough in their lives through love, care, creativity and community, not cover it up and act like perfection.