The story of Buttons Bones

I was born and raised in the Colorado Rockies and graduated with a BFA in ceramics from Kent State University in 2009. At Kent State, I had the privilege of working with and learning from Kirk Mangus and a slew of incredibly talented grad students.

My last year at Kent was spent as Kirk’s studio and research assistant where we created and studied several styles of Shino glazes, an ancient Japanese traditional glaze. I am still madly in love with crawl Shino (textured white glaze) and the unique and surprising pattern it creates every time.

The name Buttons Bones Pottery comes from my senior show in college; I created a series of wares that included both cute ceramic buttons and creepy ceramic bones and teeth. You may see this style pop up in my shop from time to time for nostalgic reasons (and it looks pretty cool). Additionally, I like pottery to have movement and flow. I like to imagine the clay can still move even after being made solid.

I hope you enjoy my shop. If you have any questions whatsoever, shoot me a message.

Happy shopping!

FAQs:
• I am a small batch potter. All of my items are handmade one at a time. Each one will vary slightly.
• The bottom, and any part of the item that needs to touch the kiln shelf when firing, will be unglazed. Glaze can act as a strong adhesive. If glaze is touching anything when it melts, it will stick to that thing forever.
o If an item has more than one piece, they were most likely fired together, for this reason, the areas on the item that are touching will not be glazed (i.e., lid and rim).
• Slight glaze variations are normal. The glaze I use fires between 2200* and 2500*F, depending on the item. The glaze will melt and move when firing. You will see this movement in the piece after the fact.
• I love a handmade look. I do not strive for absolute perfection or a commercially made look. All of my photos are high resolution – please feel free to zoom in on each piece. Go crazy.
• Do not hesitate to message me with any questions about an item. I will respond quickly. Online shopping for handmade items can be tricky – I welcome and love all questions (I also love to hear from pottery lovers and potters).

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