OIL BOTTLES

Sometimes, creating and teaching ceramics can be tiring.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining! Being creative all day and connecting with others is incredible, but all the decision-making can leave one mentally drained. Not to mention that wedging clay, making pots, and loading kilns is physically demanding. Another creative task, cooking dinner, sometimes feels monumental after a tiring day in the studio. I often need a spark to get in the mood for cooking after long, busy studio days. My go-to spark is the smell of fresh garlic sauteed in olive oil. That aromatic goodness revives me enough to start cooking.  Half the time I don’t know what I am going to cook, but if I can get motivated enough to chop some garlic and sizzle it in olive oil good things will happen from there.

Freshly thrown oil bottles drying on ware boards.

My favorite part of beginning to cook is when I take our stoneware oil bottle and drizzle golden oil into the warm cast iron skillet. The bottle is one that Kent made, and the glaze is matte yellow with iron speckles. Kent has been making many oil bottles like ours lately, so I thought I would write a short blog highlighting the top reasons why I think the bottles make great gifts.

TOP FIVE REASONS

BLUE SAGE OIL BOTTLES MAKE GREAT GIFTS:

1. It prevents oil from rancid by blocking light, oxygen, and heat.

2. Metal tops let the oil drizzle slowly, making you feel like a chef!

3. Ceramic pottery is safer for food storage than plastic because plastic can contain chemicals that leach into food.

4. Potter’s thumbprint on the pot's side makes it easy to grab when cooking and reminds you that a human being made it!

5. You can have beautiful, functional art on the kitchen countertop.

Fired oil bottles in the kiln about to be unloaded.

Glazed and fired oil bottles are on display in the gallery at Blue Sage Pottery.

My favorite thing about our wheel-thrown oil bottles is that you can have original art on your countertop. The bottles are made with stoneware clay and finished with glazes we create from scratch. Each is thrown on the potter’s wheel and dipped individually in the glazes. That results in each bottle being totally unique! Kent and I believe that you should surround yourself with things you know to be beautiful, and that is one reason we are motivated to make and sell functional art for the home. If you are looking for a special gift for someone who appreciates artisan items and likes to cook, the oil bottle makes a great present. You could also purchase two, one for oil and one for vinegar, if you want to give a matching set. We have several oil bottles in our gallery, but you can purchase them online on our Kitchenware Page. Feel free to message us about the availability of other glaze colors. We would love to help you find the perfect gift!

Get Cooking with a Handmade Oil Bottle

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CREATIVE EYE

Ansel Adams once said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of Scotney Blackburn ‘making’ photographs in our gallery. Scotney is the creative eye behind Garnish Photography. I have known this creative lady her whole life and enjoyed watching her artistic journey. She has been developing her ‘photographer’s eye’ for a few years now, taking photos of food made by husband and chef Sam Blackburn and other chefs' creations. She also photographs events.

Below are some of the artistic photographs that Scotney made for us. I hope you enjoy these photos of our pottery and gallery as much as we did!

You are in for a visual treat if you follow Garnish Photos on Instagram and Facebook. Her captured moments are a feast for the eyes!

Feast your eyes.

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TEXAS FIRING

“Candling the Kiln” (Heating it up slowly).

When the forecast is 108 degrees, it’s best to arrive at the studio at the crack of dawn to load the kiln! Before the sun beams into the kiln yard, we have to get the kiln loaded, which also means building up the shelving system. I wanted to share Kent's photo before the last firing because it shows how we stack the kiln. With a kiln like ours, you rebuild the furniture system before most firings. We first stacked rows of cordierite shelves in the back and later built the front. You always use posts in three places to support each shelf and build the shelving up to ensure you don’t waste any firing space. In the photo, you can see that we stack the shelves closely together for plates and further apart for taller pots.

Our kiln is constructed of high-temperature refractory brick with a steel jacket. Kent had to replace all the bricks a few years ago and build a new sprung arch. The kiln now has nine-inch thick walls, which leads to slow cooling and more crystal formation in the glazes.

Kent is in the habit of watching the firing closely and adjusting airflow and fuel levels as needed. We also have two “cone packs” to determine the heat levels inside. The packs are the groups of three little triangles in the picture below.

This year, we have been averaging 3 or 4 firings per month. We usually put 200-250 pots in each firing, but that number varies depending on the pots' size. Below are some pictures from our firing this past week.

Wine Goblets for Uncommon Goods

This past firing had 100 goblets because Kent will be selling these through Uncommon Goods. Look for more about that soon! We also had several plates in there since Kent continues to make individual dinner sets for sale in our shop, Blue Sage Pottery on 6th, and in our Etsy store. Here are some recent plates fired with a Shino glaze. This glaze varies from white to silver, with iron spots and occasional orange on the rims. It is a subtle complement to many different types of cuisine, and we have a set of these at home that we use frequently for big salads and pasta dishes. Please stop by the gallery to check out our newest stoneware pottery and dinnerware or view the latest in our online shop!

Shino Plates

visit the gallery to see the latest pots

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COLORS OF A POT

“How do you get your colors?”  This is a question we get a lot from people new to pottery collecting.  This question is a lot like asking, “why is the sky blue?”.  There is a short and a long answer.  Like learning about the color of the sky, the long answer leads one to deepen their understanding of science and art.  In today’s blog post, I hope to give anyone interested in our pottery more knowledge about the nature of glazes.  To understand how we get the colors in our pottery, one needs to understand what glazes are, how glazes are made, and how the kiln's firing affects the colors.  

Kent’s colorful platter bowl from the last firing!

What is a glaze?

A glaze begins as a unique blend of raw minerals mixed to a paint-like consistency.  The colors on our pots are glazes applied to bisque ware, pots that have already been fired to about 1753° or Cone 08, and then fired to 2381°, Cone 10, or even hotter! (A cone is a unit of measurement that potters use to determine the temperature of the firing). In the second firing, the applied glaze melts and bonds to the pot, becoming a vitreous glass-like surface that fuses onto the clay. 

We make cone packs for each glaze firing to monitor the temperature. We watch the cones melt and bend through the spyholes in the kiln.

How are glazes made?

Glazes are made by weighing out dry minerals and mixing them together following recipes.  Each recipe includes at least a glass, a clay, and a flux, which lowers the melting temperature of the glaze mixture.  Most recipes include more than one of each and also include minerals that opacify or color the mature glaze. 

A glaze recipe is typically written as a 100 gram batch.  100 grams is a small amount of glaze that potters use to make “test tiles”.  After lots of experimentation to get the desired glaze, we mix larger glaze batches for our studio. Because we dip-glaze at Blue Sage Pottery, we have to make at least 10,000 gram batches of each color.  

Dip-glazing a mug in a 10,000 gram of batch of glaze. This glaze will actually be red after it is fired!

“Where do you get your glazes,” is another question we often hear in the gallery.  At Blue Sage Pottery, we mix our glazes using a few popular glaze recipes, but mostly our recipes, that we have developed over twenty years of pottery making.  Some potters use commercially prepared glazes or glaze mixes that they purchase from ceramic suppliers, but we prefer to control our process and finished product.  Our recipes come from both intentional experimentation and the cultivation of happy accidents!  Glaze chemistry and calculation are part math, science, and art.  It is probably the closest activity to medieval alchemy that exists today.  We have a lot of fun experimenting with new colors and finishes!

How does the firing affect the color?

The first experience for most potters is to fire their glazed work in an electric kiln, and the results are generally less than exciting.  After a few classes, the lucky pottery student gets to fire in a gas-fueled kiln in reduction. As we progressed from students to professionals, Kent and I began to understand that the amount of oxygen in the kiln and the firing atmosphere are the biggest factors in how an average glaze becomes excellent. Many firings have led to the ability to regulate the kiln's atmosphere and allow us to achieve the desired colors consistently!

Kent has just finished the hard work of loading the kiln and is getting ready to fire in this photo!

We generally fire our gas kiln as an oxygen-deprived or reduction atmosphere resulting in some awesome reds and purples.  Using an iron red glaze rather than a copper red will create a more oxygen-rich environment.  Different glazes need different amounts of oxygen to achieve their rich colors. The colors of our pots depend on the minerals added to the glaze during mixing and the amount of oxygen in the final firing.

Can you eat off the pots?

Another common question from our customers is, “Can you eat off of these?”  Yes!  We only use food-safe glazes that have been fired to the proper temperature.  Our hand-made glazes are lead-free and barium-free.  You can use them in the microwave and dishwasher, making incorporating our pottery into your daily routines easy!  Coffee anyone?

These mugs are still warm to the touch! In this photo, we are letting the clay cool so that we can unload the kiln.

There is a lot more to glazes, but hopefully, this post answers the questions most commonly asked by our collectors. 

try out one of our pots

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HOW TO USE OUR BACON COOKER

Where did you get the idea for the Bacon Cooker, and how do you use it?  Those are two of the most frequently asked questions about our Blue Sage Pottery Bacon Cooker.  In today’s post, I will share how our Bacon Cooker came to be and how to use it.  Several years ago, Kent and I saw a ceramic bacon cooker you could microwave.  It was small, more like a mug with a flat little tray.  Kent decided to play around with the idea on the pottery wheel.

Always the optimist, Kent was sure it could be awesome, so he went about making different forms and experimenting with the design.  He made them a little sturdier and taller, making the tray more of a big bowl with a spout. He came up with today’s Blue Sage Bacon Cooker, and it sold me on the possibility of microwaving bacon!  I rarely ate bacon in the past because it was a mess to cook.  The cool thing about our Bacon Cooker is that it is easy to use and clean. Plus, it doesn’t make the entire house smelly! Now I enjoy cooking bacon occasionally.

SAVE THE BACON GREASE…IF YOU’RE INTO THAT

Two of my favorite things about the Bacon Cooker are the crispiness and the ease with which you can render the fat. The drippings run right down into the attached bowl. The bowl catches all the fat, and then you pour the grease through the spout, making rendering super easy. Our Bacon Cooker is also a great design because it is larger than most, so it holds a lot of bacon and is easy to handle when hot.

If you already have a Bacon Cooker or are considering purchasing one, I am including a “How-to” below to help you use it.

How to use the Blue Sage Bacon Cooker

1. Cut long strips of bacon in half with kitchen shears.

2. Drape the strips over the center cylinder.

3. Place a paper towel over the Bacon Cooker.

4. Microwave approximately 4-5 minutes.  (The time depends on how much bacon is on there, the thickness of the bacon, and the power of your microwave.  Experiment with times until you achieve your desired crispiness!)

5. Remove the Bacon Cooker from the microwave with an oven mitt and place it on a trivet or wooden board. (If you are cooking more, let the Bacon Cooker cool a bit before using it again.)

6. Try to keep your family from eating all the bacon before you get a piece:)

7. Render the fat.  Pour the grease through a small metal kitchen sieve into a mason jar.  Keep the rendered bacon fat in your refrigerator for up to six months and use it to flavor food or cook with it.  (One 12 oz. package of bacon makes about ¼ to ½ cup of grease.)

8. Once the Bacon Cooker has cooled, wash it by hand or put it in the dishwasher.  Our glazes are dishwasher-safe!

Find a Bacon Cooker in your favorite color

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WHERE'S THE BACON?

“Bacon, bacon! Where’s the bacon? I smell bacon!” Words from thirty years ago surface in my mind as I write this blog. The title of this post seems relevant during these crazy times, but I wasn’t thinking about grocery store shortages. I was thinking of how our three kids are exactly like that determined golden retriever in the famous Beggin’ Strips commercial. “Bacon, bacon gotta be bacon…There’s only one thing that smells like bacon and that’s BACON!” It is the smell of bacon cooking that gets them out of bed on sluggish mornings or the scent of brinner that gets them off Minecraft and into the kitchen in the evenings.

Quick bacon for Baked Potato Night this week!

These Bacon Cookers are ready to be unloaded from the kiln.

Since we cook every meal at home, it is the perfect opportunity to use our Bacon Cooker. We are using this time to test out some new recipes. We made Baked Potato Soup from our old standby cookbook, Southern Living, the other night. It was so rich and comforting on a cool, gray day!  (The downside was that it had a lot of milk in it, and of course, milk is a precious commodity these days!) This week, my daughter and I look forward to baking some Maple Bacon Cupcakes. We have wanted to make them for a while, and I recently bought some new icing tools. Of course, for all this cooking, we use one of our Blue Sage Pottery Bacon Cookers that Kent (a.k.a Dad) made.

Kent fired the kiln over the weekend and unloaded it this morning. Hundreds of new Bacon Cookers are in the kiln. As you probably know, each of our Bacon Cookers is made by hand on the potter’s wheel and dipped in glazes made from scratch (just like our cooking).  Our unique finishes come from how we combine and layer our glazes. There are so many variable color possibilities achieved by layering glazes, and we love that! We hope that all the options for different colors allow our customers to find the perfect Bacon Cooker for their kitchen!

Select your favorite bacon cooker

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EXCITING CHANGES

One of the things we love about pottery is that once a creation is fired, the job is done. Every physical detail making that pot or mug or bowl special is captured in time, and the future is up to its owner. Next time around we can experiment with a different glaze or design, but the job—at least for the moment—is finished.

Most of life is different. Life is in flux, the clay is still on the wheel. No matter how well things are going, we can work hard and make them better. That’s true for art, for businesses, for families, for everyone. We continue to grow and encourage growth in those around us. The more we improve ourselves, the more our community improves along with us.

Blue Sage Pottery is doing great. That might seem a strange time to make changes, but we didn’t get where we are by standing still. Just as we continue to hone our craft, we’ll keep doing everything we can to keep Blue Sage the premier pottery studio in Amarillo, Texas. We’ve updated our logo and we’ve given our website a makeover. But the soul of Blue Sage hasn’t changed.

WE STILL MAKE GREAT POTTERY

There was a time, not that long ago, that everything we used in our kitchens was made by hand. Every treasured pot and pan was one-of-a-kind. At Blue Sage, we’d like to get back to that mentality of building something that lasts, but keep the convenience we all love.

The quality of our pottery continues to be exceptional, with every piece unique, functional, and long-lasting.  We still make every piece by hand on the potter’s wheel or slab roller.  Our work looks great on display in your home or garden, but our pottery is useful in your daily life. Our clay and glazes are still dishwasher and kitchen safe.  Our pottery’s still as durable as it is beautiful, so you can brighten up meals and even your morning cup of coffee. All our pottery is dishwasher safe, so you’ll want to use it all the time!

We’ve expanded our partnerships with businesses who utilize our quality pottery for their own products. You can’t beat Blue Sage for consistency, and our large studio allows us to meet high demands. If you’re interested in using Blue Sage for your business, please contact us. 

Our selections of urns has grown. We believe everyone deserves to choose how they’ll honor someone, or how they’d like to be remembered. If you’re interested in our urns, you can visit our studio or browse our online gallery.

THE BEST POTTERY CLASSES IN AMARILLO

Artists have a long history of passing on their skills and secrets from masters to apprentices. That’s why we’re still offering the best pottery classes in Amarillo. Whether you’re wanting to learn a new skill, make someone an unforgettable gift, or just looking for a new way to relax, you can’t go wrong with our pottery classes. We were all beginners once, and artists of all skill levels are welcome. 

You can learn how to hand-build with clay or use the potter’s wheel. Each session lasts 7 weeks, with six weeks of classes. We take one week off for drying before glazing our creations. Those six weeks include two hours of instruction time and, for the wheel classes, two hours of open studio time per week. 

Our wheel classes meet Mondays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Tuition is $180 per session, which covers the use of clay, tools and equipment, and the glazing and firing of ten small to medium size pieces that you can take home.  

Our classes are in high demand, so space is limited. If you’re interested, you can learn more here. Remember, Blue Sage Pottery classes make a great gift!

OUR GALLERY

We’re fortunate at Blue Sage to run a gallery alongside our working pottery studio. At our location on 6th Street in Amarillo, on historic Route 66, you can see our pottery (and us!) in person.  We’d love the opportunity to meet you and demonstrate what makes our work so special. We’re open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Mondays by appointment.

It’s an exciting time in Amarillo, Texas. The arts community is continuing to grow, and we’re doing our part to add our special flare to the thriving cultural scene. Not only is our gallery the place to showcase our pottery, it’s our opportunity to feature the work of local artists. Blue Sage is the perfect place to find something special for yourself or someone you love, and we always have something new.

We don’t know everything the future holds for Amarillo and for Blue Sage Pottery. But we’ll continue doing what we love and helping others do the same. Come visit us at our gallery, or browse our creations online. You’re sure to find something new and special.

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Browse our online collection