A work-in-progress journal begins with what is actually on the table: a scale drawing, a rendered sample, and a list of small decisions that have not yet settled. The newest entry at ROOT24STUDIO is one 12 oz double-sided Lop Bunny Stoneware Mug. It is still a sample, which means we are looking closely rather than rushing to call it finished.
One face holds a bunny rising on its toes, nose lifted toward something just beyond the frame. Turn the same mug around and the bunny has folded itself close to the ground. The first pose carries curiosity. The second knows how to rest. Between them is the ordinary rhythm we wanted this mug to keep company with: meeting the day, then allowing the day to end.
An unfinished story on the worktable
A finished object can hide how many quiet choices came before it. At the sample stage, even a few millimeters matter. We look at how the standing bunny sits beside the centerline, how much open glaze remains around its ears, and whether the resting shape feels anchored rather than crowded against the base. We also look at the mug as it will be used, held by the handle, turned in the hands, and left beside a book after the drink is gone.
The specification drawing gives each gesture room to breathe. On the front, the tiptoe-standing lop bunny is 80 mm high and 35 mm wide. It sits to the right of center, with its highest point 10 mm below the rim and its feet close to the base. The reverse bunny is 35 mm high and 60 mm wide, resting low and centered. These placements are not decoration added wherever space happened to remain. They shape the way the mug changes as it turns.
The render shows both faces for clarity, but the story belongs to one physical mug. That distinction matters. We did not want separate objects for separate moods. Curiosity and rest already live together in one day, often within the same hour. The form needed to hold that gentle contradiction without explaining it too loudly.
Curiosity on one side, rest on the other
The standing bunny is alert without looking hurried. Its long ears fall beside its body while the small lifted posture suggests a scent in the air, a sound near the window, or the first warmth reaching the floor. We placed it slightly off center so its attention seems to travel into the open area of the mug. There is space in front of its nose. The composition feels as though the next moment has not been decided yet.
The reverse is quieter. The resting bunny settles near the bottom, with its body gathered and its ears lowered. It does not perform rest or turn it into a reward. It simply stops. That felt honest to us. Many days ask for attention, work, messages, errands, and care for other people. A small domestic object cannot solve that weight, but it can offer a physical cue: you may put something down now.
This is where the bunny became more than a sweet studio motif. Its poses gave us a simple way to notice our own pace. In the morning, curiosity might mean opening the curtains before opening an inbox, tasting the first sip before planning the next task, or letting a new idea remain unfinished for a while. In the evening, rest might mean leaving one plate to dry on the rack and sitting down anyway. Neither gesture needs to be impressive.
What the wax leaves behind
The surface depends on wax-resist glazing, a process built around deliberate absence. Liquid wax is brushed over the bunny areas before the Vanilla Ice glaze is applied to the mug body. The wax keeps glaze from settling on those marked shapes. During firing, the wax burns away, and the silhouettes remain as exposed raw terracotta stoneware against the creamy speckled surface.
That change in finish is central to the sample. The glazed body is smooth and softly reflective. The rabbit shapes are matte, earthy, and more direct beneath the fingertips. The color does not sit on top like printed ink. It comes from the clay body being allowed to remain visible. When the mug is turned, light moves differently across those surfaces, making the design readable by touch as well as sight.
Wax also asks the hand to accept a little variation. A brushed boundary may carry a slight curve that a machine would erase. Speckles gather with their own quiet irregularity in the Vanilla Ice glaze. We want to keep those signs controlled enough that the silhouettes remain clear, but not polish away every trace of making. The sample stage is where we learn which variations feel alive and which ones distract from the bunny's posture.
The spacing near the rim is part of that balance. Keeping the standing bunny's highest point 10 mm below the edge leaves a clean band of glaze above the ears. On the reverse, the low placement lets the resting body follow the visual weight of the mug base. The measurements protect the feeling of each pose: upward attention on one face and settled stillness on the other.
A cup turned with the hours
Objects become meaningful through repetition. A mug waits in the same cabinet, returns to the same patch of table, and meets the hand before the day has fully found its shape. Rather than inventing a complicated routine around this one, we imagined a small practice that can fit inside real mornings and tired evenings.
At the start of the day, place the standing bunny toward the window. Set your phone out of reach for the first few sips. Notice one concrete thing before you begin listing obligations: the temperature through the stoneware, the soft scatter of glaze speckles, or the sound of the room before everyone else is awake. Then choose one thing you are curious about. It can be as modest as a new tea, a plant unfurling another leaf, or a page you want to read later.
At night, turn the resting bunny toward you. Let your fingers find the shift from smooth glaze to matte clay. Write down any task that can wait until tomorrow so your mind does not have to keep carrying it. Finish the drink without trying to make the pause productive. Five unhurried minutes still belong to you.
ROOT24STUDIO often speaks about reclaiming one hour out of twenty-four, but an hour does not always arrive intact. It may come as ten minutes before the household wakes, a quiet walk after lunch, and the last few sips before bed. The mug does not measure whether you paused correctly. It simply returns, morning and evening, with another chance to notice which posture you need.
A slower invitation to join the making
Ceramics has its own pace. A form must be prepared, dried, glazed, fired, cooled, and checked before it can leave the studio. Wax-resist work adds another careful surface step, especially when the silhouette depends on small curves around ears, paws, and the line of a resting back. Moving too quickly would make the object less honest, not more available.
For this reason, we are planning a small pre-order for the Lop Bunny Stoneware Mug, with an early-bird studio price for those who would like to meet it near the beginning. We see early access as participation in a work-in-progress, not a countdown. The exact ordering details will be shared clearly when the sample review is complete, without asking anyone to hurry before she has the information she needs.
A pre-order also gives the studio a quieter way to make. It lets us prepare a considered batch instead of filling shelves on assumption. In return, we owe the community transparency about timing, the handmade variations to expect, and any change that emerges from the final sample. Patience should never be used as a vague romantic excuse. It should be visible in the care of the process and in honest updates along the way.
For now, this mug remains on the worktable between drawing and kiln, between the alert bunny and the one already at rest. That is a useful place for it to be. Some days call us to lean closer to the world. Others ask us to lower our shoulders, warm our hands, and stop for the night. When the finished mug reaches a kitchen table, its owner can decide which face belongs to that hour.
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