Nestled between the cities of Cleveland and Akron lies a lush, unexpected stretch of wilderness that has become one of Ohio’s most beloved treasures, Cuyahoga Valley National Park. With winding trails, peaceful forests, and the steady flow of the Cuyahoga River, this park offers a different kind of grandeur, one built on resilience, history, and calm beauty....
19 June, 2025 National Park No comment0 LikesRecently I was working with Sarah Stotts, from BedandBreakfast.com, on an article about my family’s Custom Pottery Mug business When she asked me for any new images of our handmade stoneware Jumping Rocks popped into my head. So I got on the phone and......
23 April, 2009 Pictures No comment1 LikeAs my family has been making mugs for customers for over 30 years from time to time we hear from folks like Vince Smith of Houston, Texas: Dear Niles: Approximately 12 years ago, my wife and I were in Ithaca, NY and had the pleasure......
17 April, 2009 Testimonials No comment4 LikesIf you requested a catalog and didn’t receive one in February or March your information did not makes its way through our website to us. We apologize for this miscommunication and failure to send you our catalog. The problems have been fixed and the “Catalog......
15 April, 2009 Announcements No comment1 LikeSpring is finally in the air and I had a few minutes this morning to take pictures of the firing that took place yesterday. We fire the kiln 4-5 days a week, each glaze firing heats the stoneware inside up to about 2350º F and......
15 April, 2009 Just off the Kiln No comment1 LikeNot sure where you were from the March 30th – April 2nd… My family (mom, dad, aunt and wifey) spent 4 days in Atlanta talking about our custom handmade stoneware mugs with some of the best innkeeping professionals in the country. We’ve been working with......
09 April, 2009 Conferences No comment1 LikeOn February 13th we shipped an order of custom handmade mugs to Christina and Charlie Ward in Yanceyville, NC and on February 18th we received this email: Hello Niles, Yesterday I received the handmade mugs, they’re PERFECT! it’s exactly what I was looking for. I......
27 March, 2009 Testimonials No comment1 LikeNo early retirement for Peter Deneen. At the start of this year with all of the economic uncertainty we decided to head out to more bed and breakfast conferences in the hopes of attracting new customers. A few weeks back my dad attended the Illinois......
27 March, 2009 Conferences No comment1 LikeWith each order that we ship, we hope to meet or exceed our customer’s expectations… Now and then we are lucky enough to have a reaction like this: Dear Niles and Teena, I want you to know that our new custom mugs are simply spectacular. ......
23 February, 2009 Testimonials No comment1 LikeIt was a cool and sunny weekend here in Minnesota and we had a firing that took place. Today I photographed a few pictures of some of the handmade stoneware custom mugs that are just about to be shipped....
16 February, 2009 Just off the Kiln No comment2 LikesToday I will be telling a story about a very special handmade mug. This mug is the the newest addition to our line of Signature Mugs™ and was named on January 26th, 2012 in Little Rock, AR. So many of our blogs focus on events or...
Here is a story about a recent order that we completed about an amazing innkeeper named Kathy Hartley, and an annual retreat that she hosts at her inn. The three-day retreat is offered to those who are undergoing treatment for any type of cancer, not just breast...
Listening, watching, or just paying attention are things that I'm doing much more of these days...
When it comes to the subject of creating custom hand-thrown mugs, we consider ourselves the best. From the consistency of our glazes, the functionality of our forms, and the crisp detail of our medallions to their tried and tested durability, we continue to lead the...
A very close family friend, Anna Rachelle, sent me an email last week while on vacation in Florida. "Walked into a lovely little cafe,sat down and exclaimed to my husband. 'Hey this mug is was made by the Deneens.' Sure nuf...
People are creatures of habit and collecting things is what we do. Yes, it is true, I have a huge collection of mugs in my office...
With Annie and Eloise up in Baudette with her parents for the next 2 weeks I'm feeling a bit down...
An exciting thing about the Birkie is that I contacted them in the summer and we were able to work with their staff in creating custom mugs for their Trail Run event in the Fall, trophies for the age class categories for all the ski races, and a line of handmade mugs for retail! Here are just a couple of images of the mugs that we made. The artwork shows the 2 Norwegian warriors rescuing the infant Prince Haakon Haakonsson in 1205.
Although my time wasn't as good as last year, I enjoyed myself... The air temps was about -3ºF at the start and maybe about 4ºF when I finished... Luckily after the race was over I got to drive back to MN and see my beautiful baby girl and amazing wife...
Now we enter the 'sweet' part of the blog, more pictures of Eloise!
A good friend and photographer, Becca Sabot, came over to our house 2 weeks ago and shot some amazing images of our baby girl. We talked about a few ideas and then began moving furniture and staging things - Eloise was great but didn't exactly go along with our 'plans'... She must be taking after dad. For the shots that we wanted to do with her asleep she would wake up, and then when we tried to go along with her being awake, she would... Yep you guessed it, she fell asleep. At any rate here are some of the favorites!
