FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Are your mugs dishwasher and microwave safe?
Every item I make is safe to be used in the dishwasher and microwave. You can even put them in the oveN if you wanted to! (It’s best to warm handmade ceramics up in the oven as it’s preheating.)
Where does your inspiration come from?
Each piece I make is inspired by the wild places I visit. In the summer, when my hands aren’t covered in clay, they are typically covered in chalk from rock climbing throughout the intermountain west. In the winters you can find me hunting down powder stashes throughout the Wasatch Mountains. The vistas I have the opportunity to see on these adventures come through in each of my carvings.
Yes! I do. To place a custom order please submit a Custom Order Form.
Do you take custom commissions?
The entire process can take two - three weeks. There are three distinct steps to my process: throwing, carving and glazing, each step builds upon the last. It takes about five minutes to throw a mug body but then it needs to slowly dry to leather hard before it can be trimmed, carved and a handle added. The carving step takes at least thirty minutes with the additional trimming of the foot of the mug, pulling and attaching the handle, and lastly carving each detail. After carving, the mug needs to slowly dry to what is called greenware at which point it can go into the first firing, called the bisque fire. The bisque fire takes up to 12 hours to fire (I use a slow firing process to minimize the risk of items exploding in the kiln) and another 6-12 hours to cool down. And now it’s time to glaze, this step can take anywhere form 30 minutes to a whole hour per mug, depending on the amount of detail work. I individually glaze each detail color using up to 5-6 different glazes painted on with a paintbrush. I don’t use underglazes in my work so after the details are painted I paint an additional layer of wax resist over the flower or mountain or desert design to ensure that the main body glaze does not cover the up all the details I painstakingly painted. For the body of the mug I use a dipping method into large buckets of glaze. Now it’s time for the glaze firing! The kiln will take 12-16 hours to each nearly 2300 F and then it needs at least 24 hours to cool before it can be unloaded. At which point I have my completed mug.
How long does it take to make a mug?
I started throwing pottery at a local studio in Salt Lake City in 2006. After the first class I was hooked and slowly but surely developed my skill set as a potter. It took 10 years and a lot of support from friends and family to make the step away from my full time job to pursue pottery. I have worked random side jobs here and there but have been running Alpine Earthworks Pottery without a side hustle since 2018.
How long have you been throwing pottery?
What kind of clay and glazes do you use?
I use two different Laguna clays: B-mix, a white body clay, and Speckled Buff, a brown body clay. The different clay types react differently with my glazes. The cleaner, smoother glaze is on B-mix and the speckled, more earthy glaze colors are on the Speckled Buff. Currently I use commercial glazes which means I don’t mix my own glaze components.
I feel incredibly lucky to have my own studio in the Baldwin Radio Factory in Millcreek, Utah. I have 5 pottery wheels and 2 kilns in my studio. Two of my wheels were made by a good friend of mine, they are my daily workhorses. When I decided to work full time as a potter I purchased my own kiln as a gift to myself for striking out on my own.
Do you have your own studio?
Not yet.
Do you teach classes?
Yes! Currently I am only shipping within the USA and occasionally to Canada. I use all recycled packaging material gathered from my community.
Do you ship?