Custom Mugs of a Childhood Home August 21, 2016 17:40

I recently had the pleasure of working with Karen Jarsky, a woman I met while teaching a workshop at a local crafts school, Snow Farm. She told me that the mug I had brought with me as an example (one with my childhood home on it with the staircase on the interior) “nearly made [her] cry sentimental tears.”

Karen and her sister Janet commissioned me to make three mugs with their childhood home on them - one for each of them and one for their mother. It was such a pleasure to work on these mugs because like me, Karen and her sister have so many memories associated with the details of their childhood home. I asked Karen to make sure she pointed the details out, so that I could make sure the mugs I made matched her memories of the house. And so she shared her memories...

Karen remembers that “During most of our childhood there was a pine tree in the front yard, to the left of some of the photos of the front of the house. My parents planted it when we were small, and it was no more than a few feet tall at first. It grew up with us and then got taken down when it was too tall (which is why it’s not in the oldest or the most recent images). It would be wonderful to include that in some form — whatever size makes the most sense to you.”

She also recalled that there were three red chairs on the front lawn, which were “a fixture through our childhood years.” And that the picnic table in the backyard was “there for many years and we had many summer dinners out there.” Finally, that the staircase had a “landing and a right turn like your childhood stairs did, which is why the mug you brought to Snow Farm spoke to me so much!”

With these details she provided the corresponding photos, so that I was able to document the house in it’s entirety - with details of the front of the house on the front of the mugs, the back of the home on the reverse, and the staircase on the interiors.

To top it all off, Karen just made my day when she contacted me to tell me she took the mugs to meet her mom and sister for a week in the Adirondacks where she and her sister surprised her mom with her mug. She told me that “every morning, each of us made our way downstairs and found our mug, filled it with coffee, and then settled in on the porch. When they weren’t being enjoyed that way, they were living on the windowsill. My mom absolutely loved her gift, and the first comment from both her and my dad was, “The red chairs are even on the lawn!” Thank you again for the amazing attention to detail.”

My heart melts :-) Thanks so much for sharing your story with me Karen!

Interested in capturing your memories in a one-of-a-kind porcelain piece of tableware for your loved one? Check out my most popular custom pieces here, and contact me (nicoleaquillano@gmail.com) if you have any questions at all!