Welcome to our studio and gallery

We have an open studio, both here and in Ellison Bay. That means you can come into our studio any day of the week and watch us making pottery. We can't guarantee that John will be throwing on the pottters wheel or that Diane will be assembling a sculpture or box. Instead, you may find us trimming, sanding, waxing, glazing or just cleaning up. The rhythm of the potters studio is ever changing.
While you're here, say hi to our studio pets: Cleo, Lily, Coco our dogs and Jazz & Shnookems, our studio cats.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Shipping and Handling Pottery

We just got a call from one of our regular customers.  He'd broken the last mug he had special ordered last summer and wished for John to make and ship another one to him.

Glad to do it.  Orders from regular customers keep us alive in the slow months.  In the winter we welcome every phone call giving us any kind of special, complicated or wacky order.

Well, our new bbf RK needs his mug replaced and he lives in North Carolina.  So John asked me to get on the USPS website and calculate the actual shipping charge so we could give RK a total.
It's a large, tall mug for $48.00.  Because we aren't legally required by Wisconsin to collect sales tax on interstate sales, all we add to that is the shipping charge.


Here it gets tricky. Because it is expensive.
It's not the size alone.  It's the weight, too.  And we add insurance.  And tracking.  The one time we didn't add tracking we needed it.  So we follow the principal that we will shovel the sidewalk before the snow falls; or as my Dad is fond of saying, CYA.
And we do.
And so we put on our shipping and handling hats, and went back into our records for the average shipping weight of a mug that size.  Then I went to my shipping office (the USPS website) and punched in the zip codes, the weight and the special costs (insurance and tracking). That came to $13.55.  I added $5 for John's time and rounded up to $19.00.  Shocking to me, and I bet to you, too.



 

Consider this.  We don't buy any shipping materials.  All of our supplies are recycled.  All of them except the tape. Imagine if you had to pay for brand new boxes and bubble wrap.  We buy our packing tape in cases so we pay very little.  We use our own paper to print out the shipping label or a 3x5 card.  We don't pass that on.  There is our time in getting all that stuff from various places.  All to keep your costs down.  Our time is valuable, your money is valuable. We work hard to help keep all those costs down and make ordering and shipping our work affordable.






But do you know that?  Or do  you secretly suspect we are making a profit from shipping?
So John called RK and spoke to his wife, BK.  She was shocked at the total.  And if you compare our costs to a large corporation, then of course it will seem to be too much.


Consider this.  They can contract with the USPS for discounted shipping.  They can cut those costs to 50% or more of our costs.  Small businesses can't compete with those big guys, and you, our valued customer, have to make a decision to spend your assets wisely.




We certainly do.

And, then, you want what you want and what you paid for.  So John double boxes all the pottery.  Three inches of packing material between the two boxes.  This mug will be boxed and then suspended in the peanuts (sometimes referred to as ghost poo) in another box.  Boxes get over-sized and add to the cost.  BUT you get what you paid for.  And that, valued customer, is the most important aspect to this packing and shipping activity.
Keeping you happy keeps us happy.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Tea for Two and Two for Tea. Tea for You and Tea for Me....

I'm sipping black tea with a little honey and 2% milk as I write this.  It's my afternoon ritual.
Coffee in the morning, black tea in the afternoon and herbal tea after dinner.
There is something satisfying, soothing, spiritual about brewing a pot of tea.
My nephew, a music teacher, has been experiencing different teas and shared some of his favorites with me a few Christmas's ago.  When he got married we sent him and his musical wife a teapot and two tea cups.

In the world, tea is the beverage most consumed after water, but most people in this country drink coffee.
Many people associate tea with colds or the flu, to be taken as medicine and only as necessary.  Noses wrinkle and brows furrow and they drink tea just because it's good for them.

Where is the fun in that?

The ritual of tea making begins my afternoon.  The tea kettle is emptied of yesterday's water.  I rinse then fill it with filtered water.  On to the stovetop it goes with the burner on high.   While I wait, I run the tap water until it is steaming, fill my ceramic teapot and cover it with a tea towel. You can use a cozy if you wish.
As soon as that teakettle sings, I pull it off the burner and let the boiling water settle down.
Loose tea is the best in a tea ball or other infuser.  Quickly pour out the tap water, deposit the tea into the hot teapot and gently pour the boiled water into the teapot.  Cover with a towel and wait, patiently, for the steeping to be complete.  This is the perfect time to pull out you sweetener, lemon, or milk and favorite mug, cup or tea bowl.
This is my tea bowl today:
I've heard people say that just the ritual of making the tea is enough to start their afternoon, or anytime actually, right. Introspection seems to be part of the tea making process for me.
Drinking the tea, whether caffeinated or herbal with makes you feel really good-the caffine buzz is more sustained and the crash isn’t as harsh as coffee.
You'll have to try it for yourself and let me know if you agree.


The different tea types include
  • black-oxidized rich flavor
  • green-less processed endless benefits, flavor light to darker richer
  • white-least processed, most delicate flavor
  • oolong-processed black tea complex with layers & varieties
  • matcha- japanese powdered green tea traditional japanese tea ceremoney
  • Pu-erh- processed Chinese exotic taste, history-once sold in formed shapes & used as currency
  • herbal- herbs, flowers, spices etc usually caffine free
  • red- african rooibos herb caffeine free sweet refreshing mate- yerba mate leaves high in caffeine herbal tea.
Here are some tea related websites I love to visit:
The Tea Guy Speaks 
What's hot in the tea world now
Winter Teas for Newbies
Five great teas for winter 
Mellow Monk
Just what the name implies..mellow
Gracious Hospitality 
Entertaining
Lanie Sips
Personal relfections
Insani-tea BlogTea
Tea lover blog
Tea-Finely Brewed 
You'll learn alot here
Miss Minimalist
More about Tea Ceremony

Let's make Tea Time special --



Loose is the best, like dancing and kissing.

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.  ~Author Unknown

If you are cold, tea will warm you.  If you are too heated, it will cool you.  If you are depressed, it will cheer you.  If you are excited, it will calm you.  ~Gladstone, 1865







Looking to learn more?  One way to really flash up your day-plan a tea party.  Little sandwiches, cakes, petit-fours, cookies...even crunchy rice cereal bars can make for a festive party.  Tea Parties-They're not just for girls.

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.  ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea.  ~Author Unknown






My tea kettle is Yellow.  Doesn't match anything, just looks cool on our black stove top.

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe.
~Rudyard Kipling

Tea is a cup of life.  ~Author Unknown





Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.  ~T'ien Yiheng

There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.  ~Catherine Douzel

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.  ~Chinese Proverb

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea.  ~Bernard-Paul Heroux




Matte Green Glaze Teapot


Large Anagama Blue Teapot
Small Anagama and Blue Teapot
 Teapots on Etsy


Two teapots on the left hold
4 C water. 
The teapot on the right holds
8 C of water.


 Do not put on direct heat source.

Functional stoneware is food safe.  It will not react to food.  Tea doesn't stain stoneware.