April 16th: Opening Day of Trout Season!

Tomorrow is opening day of trout season.

How do we know?

Gear gets pulled and aired out daysssss in advance.

It's one of the first signs of spring for us here.

The pottery studio carts and shelves seem to be as good a place as any to prep the fishing gear. I'm sure it's appreciated at home.

 We're also fishing for new ideas at the studio. Some of them are looking really good.

 And, wedding season is kicking into gear. That's also another sign of spring.

The loads are filling up fast.

Other signs of spring in Pittsburgh...

Happy Spring!

Glaze Day

Glaze Day is a big deal. It's one of the last steps of a long series of steps that could go wrong.

 The pots have been bisqued, decorated, scoured and lined.

 Here they are, awaiting the dunking into our special glaze mix that gives them their finished coating.

 Each piece is individually dunked into a bucket of glaze.

 Like this...

 It's a messy job with the splatter.

 But, each piece gets dunked, large and small.

With a pair of glaze tongs.

 The dogs have it easy.

Cousin Lulu Princess..

 came by for a visit, and stayed for a photo shoot.

 Birthday Vase with daffodils logo

 Stein with monogram initial

 Baby cup

Studio in March

It got warm enough this month to open a door and let some spring breeze through.

 The dogs got to stretch and enjoy some sun, which is rare this time of year.

The pots under natural light.

 Grinding the bottoms of each piece is important. We grind each one by hand.

from Sharkey

We've been lucky enough to have met a lot of friends doing what we do at the pottery studio. One of our favorite customers/friends hails from the beautiful state of Montana. How do we know Montana is beautiful, never having been there ourselves? Sharkey has been kind enough over the years to share his life through pictures with us. We wanted to share them with you.

Hi there,

 Just a short note. Mostly for you who don't live up north anymore.
 Yesterday was March 1st. Spring is coming so I got out first thing in the morning and took a couple of pictures so you all could see just how nice early Spring is up here in the Montana.


Sharkey

This is the piece Sharkey & Walt put together years ago commemorating Sharkey and Jan's move to Montana. They became friends during the process and email pals since.

Dog People

Here at Zotter The Potter, we've often referred to ourselves as "dog people", as in "people who love dogs".

But, as the following pictures show, there really are "dog people" out there, as in

 "dogs who think they are people".

Thanks to Mirian, our Fedex Ground driver "dog friend" who always brings treats to the

Zotter dogs at the shop when she comes over. These are her dogs in the pictures.

Thanks Mirian!

We love the cookie jar for dogs AND people.

Here are more personalized gift ideas for your special people out there:

The mulberry tree logo is one of our favorites.

This is the blue hen logo.

You can't go wrong with the grapes on the wine cooler shape.

Shop life...

 Cousin Lulu Princess

Wedding Gift Ideas

Kelly E
Hello,

I am a huge fan of your products! I received a wine holder from a good friend recently as a wedding gift. I love it so much that I recently ordered one for my mom for her birthday. I would like to order one for a good friend of mine for her bridal shower...

Thanks so much,
Kelly