Pulling a Handle and Attaching It (Mine Leans, That's Okay)
Okay. You've got a cylinder that's dried to leather-hard, or close to it, and now it's actually a mug shape and not just a cup with ambitions. Today we put a handle on it.
Handles scare people more than centering does, honestly. I think it's because a bowl can be a little wonky and still read as "bowl." A handle that's wrong just looks wrong, and everybody knows it, including you. So there's some nerves. That's fine. Let's go.
Pulling the handle
You're going to take a lump of clay, roughly the size of a small egg, and hold it in one hand over a bucket of water. Wet hand, always. This is one of those spots where I run wetter than a lot of instructors teach it. Some people want you controlling your water real tight so the clay doesn't get slimy. I think dry hands just drag and tear when you're pulling a handle, and a little slime is fine, it's a mess by design. That's just me, but it's worked for a lot of people in this room.
With your wet hand, wrap around the top of the lump and pull downward in one long stroke, squeezing gently as you go. Not a death grip. You're not squeezing the clay so much as guiding it. Think of it like milking the clay downward — that's genuinely the phrase people use and it holds up.
Do that maybe eight or ten times, re-wetting your hand each pull. You'll watch the lump go from an egg shape to a long tapered strap, thicker at the top where you're holding it, thinner toward the bottom. You want it about the thickness of your finger by the end, maybe a little thicker. Too thin and it snaps off. Too thick and it looks like a mug is holding onto a rope.
Somewhere in there you'll also want a slight curve happening naturally as you pull. Don't force it straight. A totally straight handle is harder to hold than one with a little curve in the belly of it.
Getting it off and onto the mug
Once you've got a length you like, lay it down on a board and let it firm up for a few minutes. Not long. Just enough that it's not floppy.
Score the spot on your mug where the top of the handle goes, and score the top of the handle itself. Score means scratch it up with a needle tool or a fork, doesn't matter which, this tool's like four bucks so don't let anybody upsell you on a fancy scoring kit. Add a little water to both scored spots, like slip, just enough to be tacky, and press the handle on. Push it in firm. You want it actually fused, not just resting there looking hopeful.
Then you curve the handle down the side of the mug and score-and-slip the bottom attachment point the same way. Press that on too. Use your thumb to smooth the clay where the handle meets the body, both top and bottom, so there's no seam line where it'll crack later. That smoothing step matters more than people think. A clean seam is the difference between a handle that survives firing and one that pops off in the kiln.
About the lean
Here's the thing nobody tells you going in: your handle is probably not going to be perfectly plumb and even and centered. Mine wasn't. My first mug that actually survived firing had a handle that pulled slightly to one side, like it was reaching for something. I noticed it right when I attached it and thought about pulling it off and redoing it.
I didn't. I drink out of that mug every morning, on purpose, still. A straight handle would've taught me less. I look at the lean and I remember exactly what my hand was doing wrong that day, which is more than I can say about the mugs I got perfect.
So if you step back and your handle's tilted, or it's fatter on one side, or it looks like it's got its own opinion about where it wants to go — that's okay. It's not going to be the thing that ruins the mug. It's going to be the thing that makes it yours.
A couple of real cautions
Don't rush the leather-hard timing here. If your cylinder is too wet, the handle attachment will just slide and slump under its own weight. If it's too dry, the scoring won't fuse properly and the seam will crack later, sometimes not until it's already fired, which is the worst time to find out. If you're not sure, leather-hard should feel firm but still a little cool and give slightly when you press a fingernail in. Ask me if you're not sure. I'd rather you ask than guess.
Also, watch your fingers when you're pulling the handle over the bucket. People get so focused on the clay they forget there's a bucket edge right there. Nothing dramatic usually happens. Just bang a knuckle once and you'll remember after that.
Before next time
Let the handle set up with the rest of the mug, don't touch it again today. Next time we'll clean up the seams properly and talk about what happens to this thing between now and the kiln.