Blue Sky Pottery Company

Handmade Pottery and Ceramics by Deb Babcock

http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueskypotteryco

Enjoy a visit to Blue Sky Pottery where you will find fabulous porcelain and stoneware creations, one of a kind, functional pottery including whimsical teapots and tea cups, bowls, casseroles, plates, tumblers, platters, vases and tiles.

 

I'm a potter (aka ceramic artist for those who like more elegant titles :-) ) and I make mostly functional items for the home and office. This includes dishes, cups, bakeware, colanders, vases, pencil holders, serving pieces, and some decorative sculptures.

Most creations are made on my pottery wheel where I take a lump of clay and spin it to create a shape like a cylinder for a mug or a rounded form for a bowl. Then I often alter the form, carve a design on the exterior, add color through stains and glazes, add feet, handles, lids, etc.

My pottery goes through two firings in a kiln - one to dry it out enough so glaze will adhere and a second firing to 2150 degrees F to turn the glaze and clay body into a durable glass-like finish that can be used in the oven, dishwasher and microwave.

In addition to a pottery wheel and kiln, I also use a slab roller (a really fancy rolling pin to get my clay slabs of a consistent thickness) as well as carving tools, ribs for smoothing and shaping, brushes of all sizes for design, and all the measuring and mixing tools needed to make my own glazes.

My studio is 1000 sq feet located in an office building between a dentist's office and a doctor's office. Half the space is dedicated to a gallery where locals and tourists can come in and see and buy my work; the rest of the space holds my pottery wheel, kiln, slab roller and tools, clay and glazes. Generally people who come in to browse my work will see me working at the wheel or glazing pieces for the next kiln firing.

I'm located in a popular ski destination in Colorado (Steamboat Springs) -- home to around 50 Olympians who have competed in events such as downhill skiing, ski jumping, cross-country, etc. We get a lot of visitors both winter and summer because of the great hiking in the mountains here.

I've been an etsy seller since August 2006 and get a kick out of sending my work (over 3000 pieces of pottery so far) all over the world to be used in homes where I'm sure I have never heard of the food and or drinks being served in them.

You can tell from my work that the inspiration comes from where I live. You'll often find aspen trees, flowers, grasses, mushrooms and other flora and fauna of the area depicted in my designs. And I LOVE color, so browsing my shop is like traveling to the end of the rainbow.