Not just for metal anymore

My son needed a cup, for his desk, to hold pens and pencils. The light weight containers he was using kept tipping over. Since my pottery can have a nice stabilizing weight to it, I made him a pen/pencil cup...a guy's cup. I threw a basic cylinder and added pieces of clay resembling a high relief version of a diamond plate pattern. Making the diamond pattern come out even all around was mainly due to luck since I was not in a planning mood and in quite a hurry to have it dry in time to fire. I was glad it was completed in time for Christmas. It seems like I started so early and had plenty of time. Then, all of the sudden...time's up. The magazine industry prepares their Christmas issue during the summer. Maybe they've got the right idea.