Prior to the discovery of clay, thirsty villagers were forced to lick the moisture from river rocks or wring out fish directly into their open mouths. Enjoy the convenience of better water-wielders with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 toward handcrafted pottery and decorative art at Loki’s Clayworks in Wauwatosa.

The sister shop to Creative Fire’s art studio and gallery, Loki’s Clayworks offers original artwork, imaginative dinnerware, and offbeat mixed-media creations. Inside the gallery, canvas works and wall art mark the boundaries of an aesthetic wonderland, with unique designs and rich colors lining wrought-iron shelves and filling display tables to capacity. Glazes vary from piece to piece, the colorful variety helping to catch eyes and create envious paperware. From sauce cups ($10 for 3) to pale-blue swirl-embellished plates ($48), ceramic dishes can typically keep dinner warmer for a longer period than metalware and preserve the coolness of cucumber slices with or without a tiny pair of sunglasses. Some items, such as the aqua- and ginger-hued free-form bowl ($45), do double duty as decorative art and functional accents, and sculptural pieces such as Samson the fire breather ($295) are purely ornamental and sometimes inspirational. Drawings, paintings, and photography also dot the gallery’s visual landscape in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Rob Kostelnik, owner of Loki’s Clayworks, is an independent artist inspired by mythology and ancient societies, and much of his work involves hand-built or chalk-drawn representations of imaginary beasts and monsters.