Two reasons: it was done in Period and it makes a far sturdier piece. The lighter the piece, the more it is apt to breaking, chipping and shattering. My pieces are about 99% functional and I strongly encourage their use, so having a durable piece you can put in with your feast gear is my #1 priority.
About 95% of the time I use High Fire Stoneware, bought from a clay distributor named Laguna Clay in City of Industry, California. The clay body I buy from them is called Solidate 60, which is a beige off-white stoneware that has a lot of sand in it. I've found that this clay is not only very versatile, but it is the closest I've found to what was used in Period (in my opinion). It also has a higher tolerance for thermal shock, which is good for the raku process that I do for my gallery work.
99% of the glazes I use are all mixed by hand by me. I formulate my own glazes, either by adapting glaze recipes that I've found or creating recipes from scratch. On occasion, I will use Duncan low-fire glazes, but most of my work has my own mixed glazes on them.
My functional work is 100% lead free, dishwasher safe and microwaveable, though it gets SUPER hot and I wouldn't advise micro waving these dishes very often. They are perfectly safe, and in fact, safer than eating off wood. The majority of my work is fired at cone 10 (roughly 2380 degrees), stoneware and is incredibly durable. Glazed work is bacteria free and will probably
outlast us all if properly handled. You all are merely keepers of it, as were the gentles in Period.
Why, thank you...I am glad that you noticed this fact actually. This was all done on purpose as glazing was done this way in Period. In fact, the glazing was far messier, blotchier, and in many cases, items weren't even glazed or partially glazed. They used rags to glaze their work in some cases, pouring and dipping in others.
Here are some online references for the glazing: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
Please look at the Surrey whitewares for the best examples. As you can see, I actually do a middle-of-the-road type glazing. I glaze my pieces so they are sanitary and relatively even-coated and try to leave a certain amount of drip and blotchiness to it for authenticity.
Depending on the country and year, some pieces really showed massive areas unglazed or many drips from the lip down to the feet. However, because I am selling in modern times, I do compromise with a full coverage glaze and purposely overlap and leave "drip" lines for effect. If someone wanted me to make a non-Period or Period-oid vessel with even glazing, this is available as a commission. Please contact me for more details.
Yes and no. I picked these because these are Period colors from glazes I've tweaked to be as close to Period as I can currently get, and I'm constantly developing new glaze tests. I do have blues and purples, different shades of the spectrum, but available only through commission.
On occasion I will have a vessel in a variant of a color, which if you like it, BUY IT THEN. Sometimes I will do a test on a vessel to see how people react to it and won't necessarily redo it unless there are a number of people asking me to redo it. Again, however... anything is open to commissions. Please contact me for more details.
Yes, I do. I have done a number of pieces, but they are very time consuming. Personally, I don't enjoy doing these sorts of pieces, but will do so if asked. The price will be much higher in these circumstances, especially if elaborate designs are desired. Contact me for more details.
It's mainly supply, demand, size and how much time I put into each piece. A beaker takes me less time than an aquamanile, thus it costs anywhere between $10-$18.
I do mostly German with some English wares, based off examples found from between 10th to the 17th century. Documentation on all my Period work is available, usually at my table or online. Feel free to contact me for more details.
Whether you have a modern oven or a pile of coals, these pipkins should be slowly warmed and watched when in use. These pipkins are GREAT for baking and cooking things evenly. (Watch Alton Brown on “Good Eats” talk about cooking with ceramics.) If you are using an oven, place the pipkin inside before you preheat. If its coals, slowly move the pipkin closer and closer to the smoldering coals to bring it to an even warming temperature.
DO NOT USE A PIPKIN OVER A DIRECT FLAME. While I have had customers do this, I strongly encourage you NOT to do this! The pipkin could shatter from the direct flame's intense heat. Think of how a standard modern drinking glass reacts when you put ice in it and then pour boiling hot water into it—it shatters!
Yes. I have done pre-Period items, modern, and everything in between. I've been asked to make crucibles, tiles, functional pieces, porcelain, maiolica...tons of things. If you have a clear picture (in color) and have the research on said item, that is all I usually need. I do reserve the right to turn down commissions. Usually I turn them down because of time, if the deadlines are too short or if a piece is too detailed and will take me too long to complete within the budget of the quote. Please feel free to contact me for more details.
Some pieces in Period didn't have a modern foot, some did. German pieces and English, for the most part, didn't. Remember, these people made their living on how many they could make per hour. The more they made, the more money they had in the pocket. They did whatever they could to cut time, so making pieces completely smooth, completely glazed and “perfect” (to modern standards) just wasn't done in the majority of the examples that have been found.
When looking at one of the Period pieces REMEMBER that modern ceramics has totally different esthetics from it, as modern ceramics has different styles and types of esthetics within itself. You can't compare a beaker from 14th Century Germany against a coffee much from the 99 cent store. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
Why am I putting this in here when I DON'T sell cast pieces? Well, its because I actually get this question a lot and the answer is: not quite. There were molds in Period, I have documentation for them, but they weren't used the in same way as we use them now. I personally use small Period plaster and clay press molds only for decorations and sprig molds. These molds are strictly used only for small decorations (sculpted by me usually) and the actual pieces I make are all hand thrown. So an example would be a decorative medallion about three inches in diameter that is attached to a large Bellermine jug.
I usually try to go to all Crown events in both the West and CAID. I will also go to most Coronations in both Kingdoms if it doesn't conflict with anything else, and I try to pick larger War events to go to, like Egils in An Tir, Great Western War in CAID and West/An Tir War if it is on the Oregon side.
