Another Salty Mug

So I’ve been having fun with this “salty mug” concept, to the point where I want to have a mug explode in excreted salt lines.  Eventually I’ll come up with a great photo concept on this, but for now I’m just having fun destroying drinking mugs.

My concept and theory was based on this blog post.

This was my first attempt at the salty mug process.  I took a little clay drinking cup and poured Kosher salt into it, then added boiling water and stirred.

As you can see, the salt oozed out of a tiny fissure in the cup, causing a salty crack that cascaded down the cup like a sash on a vest.

Yeah, I’m going to have fun with this.

A few weeks ago, while I was in Vermont for a little day-cation, I stopped at an antiques store.  Okay, so I was looking for antique windows or other bric-a-brac that I could upscale into some swank artwork.

Instead, I found an old mug; its interior glazing was cracked.

“How much for this mug?” I asked.

“You don’t want to buy that,” he said to me.  “It’s not glazed inside, it’s really just for decoration.  I wouldn’t drink out of that.”

“How much?” I asked.

“Two dollars.  But you don’t want to buy that.”

I smiled and handed the person two dollars.  And the little mug rode shotgun in the Blackbird all the way back home.

Okay.  Let’s test the theory out.  Nice old Kosher salt.  A couple of handfuls into the cup.  Stir in boiling water.  Let set for a couple of weeks.

That’s right, I said a couple of weeks.

Because here’s what happens when you leave salty water in a mug for over two weeks.

That’s right.  The salt squirted out of the horizontal blue bands in the cup; it also seeped out of the cup handle.  I suspect that the previous owner drank a lot of coffee from this mug; most of the excreted salt was either tan or brown.  This is proof, kids, that coffee will stain your teeth.  Or at least the insides of your old coffee cups.

So now I’m thinking.  I could have some fun with this.  I get a few more mugs from yard sales and flea markets and the Goodwill, and then I experiment with different elements.

Maybe I’ll use different colored salt, maybe causing black salt to squirt through these tiny clay pores.

Maybe I’ll pour in some road salt and see how that turns out.  Or maybe a a big old chunk from a salt lick.

Maybe I’ll add some food coloring, and see if I can cause these mugs to ooze red beards or blue mullets.

Oh here’s a good one… salt inside, chia seeds outside.  A salty Chia Pet!  Yeah!!

(rubbing hands together diabolically, then doing best George Peppard imitation)

Oh I love it when a plan comes together… 😀