Oooh, Mugs!

Hi guys! We’re at Gen Con right now, so stop by booth #267 and say hi! If you’re not at Gen Con, how about some cool news?

We picked up the Eolian Bar mugs on Monday! Did we say “picked up?” We sure did! The mugs are made by Sunset Hill Stoneware, a local company in Neenah, Wisconsin, about an hour’s drive away from Worldbuilders HQ. Jenny and Brett rented a U-Haul and picked them up, because it was actually cheaper than shipping two pallets of mugs using a service. Here’s what they had to say about the trip.

When we got there, the folks at Sunset Hill were only too happy to help us load the U-Haul. That was pretty cool in itself, but then we got a tour of their facility! They requested no photos, because most of their equipment is either custom-built or modified by the owners, so trade secrets and all. But we’ll do our best by using our words.

And photos of the drop-dead gorgeous Eolian mugs. Lookit!

Jason was pretty proud of their operation, and eager to show us how things are done. He introduced us to Chris, who was throwing clay and pulling up mug after mug with some weird effortless magic–either alchemy or sympathy, but super cool no matter what. Chris uses a caliper and template to keep the width and lip consistent from mug to mug, and Jason showed us the finished version of the mug, which actually shrinks noticeably during the firing process.

Then Jason led us to the handle station, where two more people add handles to the mugs by hand. Hand handles? And after that, there was someone pressing the emblems with a cool contraption that uses a detailed die to basically stamp the emblems onto a different sort of clay. Then someone at another station attaches the emblems, and the mugs are bisque fired for 7.5 hours.

Instead of this, they look more like clay flower pots. But they’re not done yet!

After their first round in the kiln, the mugs are glazed. Jason said all the colors in the glazes come from various natural elements. If they need green, for example, they use copper. Then it’s back in the kiln for another 8.5 hours. Once they’re done, he said, you can smack ’em against the table a couple times and they won’t break (we don’t recommend trying this, by the way, it’s just nice to know these mugs are resilient).

Then everything is sorted, packed, and shipped (or, if you’re weird like us, picked up). He said they produce a little over 1,300 mugs a day. The Worldbuilders order was 675 mugs, which they consider a big order. Not too shabby! We saw about a dozen people there at various stations, and apparently a lot of them cross train so they can switch jobs when needed. Jenny said she expected more conveyer belts and automation, but nope. Every single mug at Sunset Hill is made by hand, passing from one person to the next. It’s super cool.

Here they are with the words that spawned them.

And then the mugs make it to their destination, where Amanda is delighted by how awesome they turned out.

Thanks everyone–we’ll have another full update on Geeks Doing Good fulfillment next week!