“I can still throw a mug. I can’t make a Mavis. My thumb took that from me this spring.” — Why a 71-year-old Virginia potter is selling her last 212 “sassy” jars at a special price before her barn workshop closes forever.

Walk into Darlene Combs’s barn in Abingdon, Virginia, and forty little jars stare at you from a long wooden shelf. Every one of them has its hands on its hips. Every one of them tilts its head a little to the side.

Visitors usually stop in the doorway. Then somebody laughs and says the same thing: “Lord, what did I do?”

Darlene is 71. She has been a potter for over 40 years. She has made mugs, pitchers and plates for every craft fair between Bristol and Roanoke. But the thing people know her for is this small, crooked jar. She has made about 6,000 of them. And every one has the same nickname: a Mavis.

The aunt who never had to say a word

Mavis was the older sister of Darlene’s mother. She cooked for her church for 38 years and lived to be 94. She never yelled. She never had to.

“When somebody tracked mud into her kitchen, she just stood there. Hands on her hips, head tilted, not a word. You knew.”

But Mavis had a second habit. On top of her fridge sat a jar of wrapped peppermints. And whoever had done something wrong got one anyway, as soon as the talking-to was over.

“She’d fuss at you and then hand you a peppermint. That’s the whole jar, right there.”

In 1983, a few months after Darlene opened her little pottery, she made a jar for Mavis’s birthday. A crooked body, hands on the hips, a lid with a stubborn little tuft on top. Mavis looked at it for a long time. Then she put her own hands on her hips. The whole family laughed until they had to sit down.

Why no two Mavis jars ever stand the same way

A Mavis jar is small. About 6 inches tall and 4½ inches wide. It sits easily in one hand. But a lot happens in those few inches.

• “The Hands-on-Hips Pull”: Darlene rolls each arm from a coil of clay, curls the end with her thumb and presses it onto the body. Because it is done by hand, every jar has its own attitude. Some look patient. Some look like they are about to give you a talking-to.
• “The Mavis Lean”: The body is crooked on purpose, like someone shifting her weight onto one hip. The bottom is flat, so the jar stands firm and does not tip over.
• “The Cowlick Lid”: The round lid has a crooked little tuft on top, like hair that won’t lie flat. That tuft is also the handle. The lid lifts off easily and sits snugly back in place.
• “The Three Moods”: Every jar is painted in one of three designs. Each one comes from a corner of Mavis’s life.

Three colors, three corners of Mavis’s life

• Peach Fizz: Colorful dots, like the curtains in Mavis’s kitchen window.
• Porch Lavender: Blue lavender sprigs you can feel with your finger, like the row along her front porch.
• Creek Blue: Turquoise speckles, like the creek behind her house.

What goes inside is up to you. Many of Darlene’s customers keep wrapped peppermints in theirs, just like Mavis did. Others use them for tea bags, rings, hair pins or a bag of cat treats. Wrapped candy, yes. Loose food, no. It is a keepsake jar, not a cookie tin.

Where the attitude comes from

Darlene says the secret is in the little curl at the end of each arm.

“That curl is where she gets her attitude. If I rush it, she just looks tired.”

Mavis died in 2009. Darlene still works on the same wheel she bought in 1979, in a barn that smells of wet clay, with bluegrass on the radio from Bristol. When a jar comes out right, she sets it on the shelf with the others. Then she puts her own hands on her hips and looks at it for a while.

The morning her doctor said: no more curls

What Darlene will miss most is the quiet first hour in the barn. Coffee on the windowsill. Sun coming through the gaps in the old boards. Forty jars watching her work.

For two years, the arthritis in her right thumb has been getting worse. She can still throw a mug on the wheel. But the one movement that makes a Mavis — curling the arm and pressing it on — she can no longer do cleanly. In March, her doctor told her to stop.

“I can still make a mug. I can’t make a Mavis. And I won’t sell one that only looks half mad.”

There is no one to take over. 212 jars are left on the shelf. When they are gone, there will be no more.

Why she turned down $90 a jar

This summer, a collector from Asheville drove up and offered her $90 for every jar on the shelf. Darlene said no.

“A jar in a glass case never made anybody laugh. Every one of these ought to start a conversation in somebody’s kitchen. That’s what Mavis did.”

So she set a price that covers the clay and the firing, and not much more. She wants her last jars on real kitchen counters, where grandchildren reach for them and visitors stop and ask: “Who is that?”

Darlene doesn’t use a computer. Kayla, her neighbors’ daughter, works at the library in Abingdon. In July she took three jars to work and posted one photo. The next morning she had 60 messages. So Kayla built the page where you can order now. Every Saturday, she helps pack the boxes.

“I told her I don’t do computers. She said, ‘You don’t have to. You just make them mad.’”

What people say about Darlene’s Mavis jars

• ★★★★★

  “My granddaughter took one look and put her hands on her hips right back at it. Now she asks for ‘Mavis’ every time she visits. I already ordered a second one for her room.”

  Donna R., Johnson City, TN
• ★★★★★

  “It sits next to my coffee maker with wrapped peppermints inside, just like the story. Every visitor picks it up and asks where I got it. The lavender is raised, you can really feel it.”

  Carolyn B., Roanoke, VA
• ★★★★★

  “Bought one for my sister, who has stood exactly like that for 60 years. She laughed so hard she had to sit down. Then I ordered one for myself.”

  Sue W., Hickory, NC

Three questions people ask before ordering

Where can I buy one of Darlene’s Mavis jars?

Only through this page. Darlene’s jars are not sold on Amazon, Temu or in any store.

How long will they be available?

Only while supplies last. Darlene has made her last jar, and there are 212 left across all three colors. Once a color is gone, it is gone for good.

What if it’s not right for me?

You have 30 days to try it at home. If you are not happy, just send a short email and you will get your money back. No questions, no hassle.

More from people with a Mavis on the counter

• ★★★★★

  “About the size of a big coffee mug, which is just right for my counter. The colors are bright, the lid fits well and it came very well packed.”

  Brenda M., Kingsport, TN
• ★★★★★

  “I keep my rings in the Creek Blue one by the sink. It makes me smile every morning, which is more than I can say for most things at six a.m.”

  Judy P., Bristol, VA
• ★★★★★

  “Ordered all three colors for my daughters for Christmas. They each picked one and then argued over the lavender.”

  Linda F., Greensboro, NC

This story and its characters are fictional and serve to illustrate the product.