First we dig the clay out of a local quarry and transport it home to clean, process, and generally make it workable. See video above.

After that, our potters compress the clay to make sure all air bubbles have left the clay. Then they weigh it for their needs and hand-throw it on the wheel to form it into shape.

From there, our artist Julie engraves patterns free-hand into the soft clay. Her designs are often inspired by our location and wildlife and are influenced by her Irish heritage.

The engraved piece will get moved to a special room to continue the drying process. This can take from weeks to months and is very delicate! In fact, for special orders we often make a copy just to make sure we can keep the timeline going.

Once dried, a team of workers will create the glaze, paint it on, and finish the piece off with a stunning rim colour. Glazing is tricky because two glazes rarely turn out the same – making each piece a unique experiment. It’s also the slowest part of the handwork.

Finally we put our pieces in the kiln and fire it up. The first day we heat our kiln to 200C, on the second day we raise the heat incrementally till we reach our firing temperature of 1060C, late in the evening. The third and fourth days are used to slowly cool the kiln back to room temperature.

Our average production time, from hand-throwing to taking a piece out of the kiln, is six to eight weeks. Definitely not fast food!

Every finished piece that makes it to our shop goes through this entire process. We are not a commercial pottery factory, so each piece is handcrafted with love. We hope you enjoy browsing our shop and can find something special to take home.