Saturday May 11th 10-6  and Sunday May 12th, 11-5

Taylors Falls, MN

Come join us for our sale!

The Rogue Potters are:

Fred Yerich of Frogtown Pottery

Randal Anderson

Jenn Brandel

Mark Johnson

along with special Guest Artist George (Bud) Moore

Join us for our annual Spring Sale at our old farmhouse in the woods, as we unveil new pots from our latest firings. We’ve had a busy winter making pots and firing our wood fired kiln, and are ready to display our newest wares.

If you’re out on the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour, be sure and swing by. We’ll have all new functional and sculptural wares from our wood firings, as well as our wonderful snacks and whiskey

The pots are made, the glazes are mixed, the wood’s been split; it’s time to fire pots!

The Rogue Potters will be out in full force this weekend glazing and decorating our wares, loading up the trusty kiln, lighting the match, and drinking a toast to the kiln gods as we fire our work this weekend!

Stop on by on Sunday if you’d like to see and be part of the action, as that’s when the kiln starts belching smoke and fire and the excitement really builds!

See, it’s crunch time as we get ready for the wood firings in two weeks. We got kilns to fill, fans to please, ideas to express, and pots to make!

We can’t wait to see all these fired, but in the meantime here’s a preview of some of the things we’ve been making!

Vases

Baking Dishes

Iron clay jar with white slip and carvings

Fluted shallow bowl

It had seen some use, and obviously had been used quite a bit in the past based on the wear and tear it has. Additional boards for support had been nailed on all over the place, it had been spray painted a bunch of wacky colors, and looks like it had been sitting in the garage for some time.

I removed all of the additional supports that had been added. After complete disassembly, I reassembled all the dowelled and mortise and tenon joints, and tightened things up a bit with some lag bolts. This thing is rock solid now! I repainted to what seemed to be the original colors, and replaced the brass bushings with real bearings. The wheel is now incredibly smooth and sturdy!

I can’t wait to get throwing on my new baby, and see if I can’t get the wonky pots I so love!

Everything went great until at the ends the bricks exploded and landed on top of my pots, breaking the tops if a couple if them.

I loved the outcome and can’t wait to run up a few more firings!

I used regular household brick to make a pit on top of the snow and ice in my garden.

Most of the pots were burnished with various Terra Sigillata recipes to try out. Terra Sig is really fine clay particles that form a glossy sheen on the pots, but it is pure clay and not a glaze.

The pots are layered in with sawdust, hardwood, salt, copper sulfate, and I threw some yellow ochre iron in as well.

After piling more wood on top to build up some coals, the pit is lit and we’re on our way…..

After things have burned down a bit, I covered the pit with some steel to try to slow down the fire and hold the heat it. This puts the kiln in to a reduction mode, starving it of oxygen, which should bring out the reds in the copper. It also makes a lot of smoke and steam when it’s near zero degrees outside!

The next morning after all had burned down it was time to open and see the results. See those chunks of bricks on the ground? Yeah, well, they blew off the top layers of the bricks around the pit and smashed their way through a couple otherwise gorgeous pots!

A brick victim, with otherwise great coloring. You can see the results of the flames and embers all over, and it would have been a great pot. Up to 40% loss is normal in a pit firing though.

Working in clay teaches you great patience, as you should only learn to love a pot once it is safely home on your mantel- there’s too many opportunities for it to break in the meantime!

This is the side that was down, and the black is from the colder part of the fire. Polish these up and they should be great!

Blacks, greys, oranges, reds, greens, this pot got it all.

My favorite piece out of the firing! It got great coloring and is fully intact! Can’t wait to polish it up and see what it looks like!

All in all a great first attempt. Once I fix the exploding brick issue, I can’t wait to add this to our lineup of great pots!

Here’s a couple if Ikebana plates that are bisqued and ready to be glazed and fired. Can’t wait for the spring firings to begin and the upcoming Mother’s Day sale!

Here’s a couple of my own pots that I just couldn’t ring myself to sell, and use them on a daily basis. I think there’s something to be learned by using your own pots to see what works and what doesn’t.

This is from a series of small wonky plates I made that get really kissed by the flames and ash in the wood firing.  Perfect for desserts!

This small porcelain cup sprinkled with ash from the wood firing just feels perfect in your hands. I use it most every morning for my coffee.

This stack of stoneware shino bowls are from one of my first firings in the Taylors Falls kiln and stack together perfectly.

A wiggle shino bowl that is great for ice cream!

The is a cup I use for wine, covered with my Rice Hull Ash Nuka glaze. Wonky, fun, and feels great in your hand!

I’ve recently been experimenting with some chattering techniques that will look amazing in Raku or the wood kiln. Love the texture and lines that are created. Can’t wait to try this on some more pots!

Saturday December 1st 10-5, Sunday December 2nd 12-4

1381 Grand Avenue, St. Paul MN

The Rogue Potters are:

Jenn Brandel

Mark Johnson

Randal Anderson 

Porcelain with Shino glaze

We will also be featuring Special Guest Artists

Rachael Hartzler – Jewelry

Jaana Mattson – Jewelry

Lynn Hoffman – Fiber Arts
Rogue Potter Fred Yerich from Frogtown Pottery will be showing nearby with our good friend Lloyd from LL Pots. Be sure to visit them at 1736 Lincoln Ave, St. Paul MN Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4

Lloyd Cledwyn - Potter

Fred Yerich- Frogtown Pottery

We appreciate you supporting your local artists!! Hope to see you there!