100 Day Project
If you're on Instagram, you're bound to scroll through a #100DayProject at some point. The concept is simple: choose a medium you want to work with, decide how you're going to implement that medium, do it every day for 100 days and share your process online. When our founder, Lalese Stamps was ready to push herself out of her comfort zone the 100 Day Project seemed like the perfect solution. In September 2019 she embarked on a project of her own, making 100 mugs with 100 different handles in 100 days. This is an inside look into her #100DayProject and how it brought major brand recognition to Lolly Lolly Ceramics.
1/100
2/100
3/100
4/100
Q
How’d you come up with so many ideas for mug handles?
A
I sketched out a ton of ideas before I started the project. I came up with pages and pages of exploration, but once I started I realized that a lot of the sketches were repeat ideas. This forced me to explore my surroundings and pull inspiration from items in my daily life: door knobs, architecture, utensils, fences for example—everything could be interpreted into a handle.
5/100
6/100
7/100
8/100
9/100
10/100
11/100
12/100
Q
How did you successfully make one mug per day?
A
There are so many steps that go into making one mug, from throwing, to trimming, glazing, firing, taking photos, to uploading every day, etc. I had to really plan out this project, but of course, things don’t always go as planned. I started the project making a few mugs at a time, but there were times where I would only had one done in time. It was stresful, but somehow I always had one ready to post on Instagram. Having a small test kiln was excellent because it allowed me to fire 1-6 mugs at a time without wasting as much energy as a larger kiln.
13/100
14/100
15/100
16/100
17/100
18/100
19/100
20/100
21/100
22/100
23/100
24/100
25/100
26/100
27/100
28/100
29/100
30/100
31/100
32/100
33/100
34/100
Q
What was the biggest challenge?
A
Having an idea for a mug and it not physically working as planned was really hard. There were a few mugs that would constantly fall apart in the kiln. I had to make mug 59/100 four diferent times, for example. This project didn’t allow for a ton of error so it was crucial that I was working on a few different mugs at one time in case one didn’t work out as planned.
35/100
36/100
37/100
38/100
39/100
40/100
41/100
42/100
43/100
44/100
45/100
46/100
47/100
48/100
49/100
50/100
51/100
52/100
53/100
54/100
55/100
56/100
57/100
58/100
59/100
60/100
Q
What advice do you have for anyone interested in starting their own 100 Day Project?
A
Do some upfront planning. Doing anything for 100 days straight can be a challenge especially if that’s being added to other things in your daily life. Give yourself some grace and find a person to lean on when days get hard. Completing a project of this gravitas can feel lonely unless you have support from loved ones who can cheer you on.
61/100
62/100
63/100
64/100
65/100
66/100
67/100
68/100
69/100
70/100
71/100
72/100
73/100
74/100
75/100
76/100
77/100
78/100
79/100
80/100
81/100
82/100
83/100
84/100
85/100
86/100
87/100
88/100
89/100
90/100
91/100
92/100
93/100
94/100
95/100
96/100
97/100
98/100
99/100
100/100
