Many years ago my parents owned a retail building. In the basement was a pottery studio ran by a very nice woman. I would talk with her at times about the process of pouring and firing the pieces she made. She also gave classes to any who wanted to learn.

I never took a class but I did learn something interesting. I learned that Disney licensed some of its characters to be made into molds that could then be mass produced by anyone who could afford the mold. This was rarely an individual, but most often a business. Depending on how popular the mold was, there could be dozens or thousands of a particular piece. Or just one. There is no way of knowing.

Charity shops end up with many of these types of artwork. Usually I pass on them because of the rough casting and poor painting work, and the fact they aren’t technically official Disney merchandise. At least, they never have a Disney branding on them. Occasionally I find a nice example, though, such as:

Goofy is my favorite Disney character so that played heavily into my purchase. That and the $5.99 CAN price tag made it easy to finalize my decision to buy.

I’ve noticed that most of these commercial molds are copies of official merchandise. They may not be exact matches but often pay homage to a more polished offering, such as this character tankard. Scroll down to the end of the post to see the example featuring Goofy.

I’ve mentioned that many of the amateurs that produce these items usually don’t do a very good job. I don’t say this to criticize as I realize that most are beginners when they bring these into the world. It looks like this sitting Goofy was done by a more advanced student if the paint work is any indication.

He or she did a wonderful job of capturing the original coloring of Goofy’s vintage clothing!

Again, you know this is not an officially released Disney product because it has no trademark inscribed in the base. For an example of such a mark, check out my Minnie Mouse Ceramic Planter.

Would you add such a DIY piece to your Disney collection?