About Barn Hill Pottery
Every piece I make is made with two things in mind - beauty and function. I enjoy making practical things but they need to be wonderful to look at as well. I hope that you will enjoy them for many years to come.
Each piece starts with stoneware clay made in the Berkshires and purchased several tons at a time. I use a variety of methods from wheel throwing, slabs, extrusions, and molds. These techniques represent a much slower, less mechanical production process, and give each piece its distinct handmade character. They are then dried and fired to 1,800 degrees in an electric kiln. After cooling, they are sanded, washed, stamped with the name, waxed (to prevent glaze from sticking to the bottoms), and glazed. Several traditional methods of glazing are combined in each piece from dipping, pouring, brushing, and splattering. I even sometimes melt my Mother's Sky vodka bottles for a puddle of brilliant cobalt blue. The pottery is then again fired to 2,300 degrees (the electric company loves me). All of my glazes are unique and personally developed by me. My painting background kicks in demanding colors that mix and match, representing the natural seashore environment around me. This allows me to use the glazes as paints for the landscape pieces that I do, in addition to the more traditional decoration. I am continually changing and designing my work so that every kiln firing is like Christmas. I truly hope you enjoy them.
All of my pottery is intended to be used daily so special care is taken that every item functions well. Every piece is made out of high fire stoneware clay for durability and is ovenproof, dishwasher, microwave safe, and lead-free. Do not put them on an open flame or burner and please start cooking in a cold (non-preheated) oven. Please avoid fast transfers from extreme temperatures such as from refrigerator to oven.
I feel as an artist and a business, I have a responsibility to the environment. Therefore I recycle everything I possibly can including all clay scraps, throwing water, and glaze water. I even recycle all bisque scraps to my window well for drainage or to the bottoms of flowerpots and glaze shards into mosaics (someday). All of my packing materials are recycled and I gratefully accept donations.