I have chosen to work with clay formulations that permit high temperature firing to about 2400 degrees F. At this temperature the clay bodies vitrify into a hard, dense, and chip resistant substance as compared to work produced at lower temperatures. My glazes are lead free and designed to give years of trouble free service in utilitarian settings. These stoneware and porcelain clay bodies are fine for use with ovens and microwaves within reason, but never range top. Avoid extreme thermal shock such as movement from freezer to oven.

Always heat evenly; therefore reheating a casserole in the microwave with food on only one side is not recommended because only one side gets hot. The ware may be routinely cleaned in a dishwasher. Pieces represented as functional may be considered to be food safe. However, the decorative iridized one of a kind pieces should not be considered as either functional or food safe.

Clay is a magic material like no other. It responds to touch by reforming itself to become the imprint of whatever just happened to it. Once this is experienced, a potters personality is both mesmerized and obsessed by it. I work from two main vantage points; decorative and utilitarian. Within these vantage points I have settled upon porcelain and stoneware formulations for the functional work, and porcelain and sometimes low fire raku for the decorative and one of a kind. I find that each discipline has challenges that greatly interest me, and that solving these challenges has an undeniable and beneficial effect upon my other approaches to clay.

The manipulation of clay for me begins with the preparation of it. The recipes I use have evolved over time with every ingredient increasing or decreasing in importance depending upon the characteristics they each impart to the body. My porcelain is a white clay body mixture using kaolins from the purest deposits available. Porcelain is more difficult to work with than the user friendly stonewares, but allow the use of transparent glazes which transmit light. I tend to use porcelain to obtain colors and effects unobtainable from stoneware. stoneware clays typically fire brown. They are also more abundant and easier to work with. These two facts account for the price differential with porcelain being somewhat more expensive. It all boils down to what you like the best. I enjoy working with both.

By mixing my clay and glazes, as opposed to purchasing one or both already commercially prepared, I retain reasonable control over my pots. Recipes can be adapted when necessary or desired. I develop most of my glazes which are not published and therefore not available to every other artist or clay producing facility in the world. The production of handmade ceramic objects is a labor intensive enterprise and always has been. A simple form such as a soup mug with one addition, i.e. the handle, requires at least 34 distinct and separate steps between and not including the mixing of the clay and the sale of the piece. Granted, not all steps are equal.

Forming the piece on the potters wheel requires more specialized skill than turning the piece over to allow the bottom to stiffen; decorating the piece requires more creative decision making than placing a ware board full of pots onto storage shelves so they can dry. Nevertheless, all steps require attention, and prevent me from going fishing once the process has begun. But the human hand imparts a little individuality at each step that mass produced machine made methods never can. So which avenue you decide to spend your money on will depend entirely upon what you value. If what you value is absolute uniformity, then you can find many examples of commercially manufactured ware at discount retail establishments nearly everywhere at prices which are probably less. But if you require the objects you use, in order to create your living environment, to posses the imprint of a human experience, then you will probably value the subtle inconsistencies from piece to piece and be enriched by them. This brings me to a major point.

The glaze recipes which I have chosen to value and use are typically those which do not give carbon copy results time after time. This is a personal aesthetic and I fully realize that you may not share my enthusiasm for it. As you look over this website, you will notice that each glaze offered is represented throughout with variation evident. Variation should be considered the norm rather than the exception. We do not make clones. We make family members with differing personalities intact. There are similarities but they are not identical, nor are they intended to be. If this aesthetic seems alien to you, then consider any purchase carefully.

We do honor returns, as stated in the conditions on the order form; however, the purchaser assumes the cost of packing and shipping both ways. I strive to make each pot a high quality expression in clay that I am proud of having made and you can be proud of owning. Clay is a joy to work with. It is my hope that as you use these functional pots and/or allow the individuality of the decorative pieces to define your relationship to your environment, that you will sense the joy, pride, and human humility that went into making them for you.