Sale Extended: One Day for One Mug Sales

SALE EXTENDED ONE DAY ONLY: We’re extending our deals and coupons through the day so you can get in those last Christmas orders. Shipping on single mug or bowl orders will have guaranteed nationwide arrival before Christmas, but we cannot guarantee the arrival of any larger orders before the 25th. Plus, order by the end of the day for those final savings using our holiday coupons and deals:

$39 Cosmic Mugs with Free Nationwide Shipping

50% off all Nuka Cobalt Pottery

Coupon Code: HOLIDAYCOBALT50

40% off all Mountain Pottery

Coupon Code: HOLIDAYMT40

$15 Funky Bowls

70% off all Cosmic Cups

Coupon Code: HOLIDAYCOSMIC70

Guinness World Record Planter Package

  • 20% OFF COUPON: POTTERY20
  • 1 FREE Nuka Cobalt Mug of your choosing.
  • 1 FREE Cosmic Mug of your choosing.
Here’s how you claim your free pottery:
  1. Simply purchase a Guinness World Record Planter TODAY.
  2. View all of our available Cosmic Mugs and Nuka Cobalt Mugs.
  3. Email contact@cherricopottery.com a link to your favorite two mugs (one of each that is not sold out, please!)
  4. Or, simply email contact@cherricopottery.com and say, “Pick out two gorgeous mugs for me” and we will choose two of our best mugs to include with your order, totally free! We’ll even cover the extra shipping charges.

PLUS LAST CHANCE: WOOD-FIRED SERVING BOWL GIVEAWAY

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You also have a chance to win a unique wood-fired serving bowl completely free with shipping included nationwide and in Canada. Our giveaway ends today at 5:00, so hurry to our link and share on social media to increase your chances of winning.

All coupons and deals expire today. Please purchase today to guarantee nationwide arrival before Christmas. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

“Now go and make interesting mistakes. Make amazing mistakes. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art.”

Neil Gaiman, author, in commencement speech to University of the Arts Class of 2012 on Tim Ferriss’ blog

Photo credit : Kyle Cassidy

 Photography by: Nicole Pederson and Julia Eckart

A History of Wood-Fired Pottery and Hot Holiday Deals

Fired with Love: Wood-Fired Pottery and Giveaway

Fresh out of the kiln, we’ve got some hot pottery deals coming your way, including deals on Guinness World Record Planters, Nuka Cobalt Pottery, Mountain Pottery, plus a free Wood-Fired Serving Bowl giveaway.

The bottom of this post shows more about the deals. First, we want to celebrate another fantastic year of pottery by taking a look back through history to the origins of influence for Cherrico Pottery. To do this, we’re giving you a brief introduction to traditional wood-fired pottery, what makes it so unique, and why Joel chose to use this process for his Guinness World Record Planters.

A Brief History of Wood-Fired Pottery

Japanese potter at his wheel in 1914 (Left), A Two Story French Porcelain Pottery Kiln in 1880 (Right)

As long as there have been people, there have been potters. Modern potters typically fire with gas or electricity, but many historical potters fired with wood. The historical lineage of wood-fired ceramics that Joel practices comes from historical Japanese pottery, practiced as far back as the 5th century. The kiln design brought to Japan at this time was the anagama kiln, meaning “cave kiln” in Japanese.

Anagama kilns have a single chamber that does not separate the pottery from the flames of the fire, allowing the kiln to naturally color the pots from direct contact with fire and ash. The kilns are shaped in long, tunnel forms, with fire placed at the opening and pottery stacked in the back. Pottery is fired over several days or even over one week straight, depending on the size of the kiln.

Wood-Fired Pottery in Rural Minnesota

For a time, wood kilns became increasingly rare with the introduction of the electric kiln in the 20th century (which is what Joel uses to create most Cherrico Pottery). Thanks to a handful of pioneering potters, wood-kilns have since spread to the US, and more particularly to Joel’s neck of the woods in rural Minnesota.

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Richard Bresnahan (Left), Bresnahan blessing the Johanna Kiln at a lighting ceremony (Right)

Joel’s alma mater, the College of St. Benedict/Saint John’s University, is world renowned for revival of wood-fired pottery made by Richard Bresnahan. Bresnahan is a Master Potter who apprenticed under world class Japanese potters, the Nakazato family. He is currently serving as the director of The Saint John’s Pottery Studio and founded the studio in 1979. During this time, he found a clay deposit near the studio, which is still used to make nearly every one of the thousands of pots created by the studio annually. Bresnahan and his team also built the Johanna Becker Wood Firing Kiln, the largest of its kind in North America. Named after S. Johanna Becker, OSB, whom Bresnahan studied under, the kiln is fired about once every 1-2 years with artwork by Bresnahan, his apprentices and resident artists, other local potters and student work.

Cherrico Pottery’s Wood-Firing Process

Joel used a similar wood-firing process to create our Guinness World Record Pots. After these pots were dry, they were brought to a local kiln built by Joel’s mentor Sam Johnson, who apprenticed at the St. John’s Pottery decades ago. Sam now teaches at Joel’s alma mater CSB/SJU and fires one small anagama about twice each year. You can see the kiln and learn about it in this news article.

Each Guinness World Record Planter was fired by Joel in this small anagama in Saint Joseph, Minnesota (small is a relative term- it’s actually the size of a big car!). These planters were fired nonstop for 4 days at a heat up to 2400°F, meaning that the fire had to be stoked day and night to keep the temperatures up. Joel took the night shifts, firing midnight to 8am for four days straight.

Once the firing was completed, the pottery is finished and fully functional for everyday use. Joel also added blue paint to the pots to highlight the record numbers. This was inspired by artist Peter Voulkos, who commonly painted on his wood-fired pots and sculpture.

One of the benefits of the wood-firing process includes a more sustainable firing method than electric-powered firing, since trees are carbon neutral. The kiln is also fired almost entirely with waste cut-offs from a local lumber mill and dead fall from around the college campus.

The Guinness World Record pots were required by Guinness World Records to be planters of a certain size and shape. Clunky, little planters were a fun form for this historic project, so Joel chose an equally fun, historic firing process. A wood-fired kiln built by his mentor seemed like the perfect way to finish the world record pottery.

Limited Time Holiday Savings

These planters will cozy up your home with a natural form, rustic colors and the warm feeling you get knowing that you are an officially sanctioned participant in art history. Show your love to everyone this Holiday season by joining in this truly amazing, historical project. If you shop with us before Christmas, we’ll even give you a special deal.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD PLANTER HOLIDAY PACKAGE

  • 20% OFF COUPON: POTTERY20
  • 1 FREE Nuka Cobalt Mug of your choosing.
  • 1 FREE Cosmic Mug of your choosing.
Here’s how you claim your free pottery:
  1. Simply purchase a Guinness World Record Planter before Thursday 12/15.
  2. View all of our available Cosmic Mugs and Nuka Cobalt Mugs.
  3. Email contact@cherricopottery.com a link to your favorite two mugs (one of each that is not sold out, please!)
  4. Or, simply email contact@cherricopottery.com and say, “Pick out two gorgeous mugs for me” and we will choose two of our best mugs to include with your order, totally free! We’ll even cover the extra shipping charges.

Plus we’ve got a few extra special deals for the holidays:

50% OFF NUKA COBALT POTTERY

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Use coupon code HOLIDAYCOBALT50 on your cart to save on all Nuka Cobalt Pottery.

40% OFF MOUNTAIN POTTERY

Use coupon code HOLIDAYMT40 on your cart to save on all Mountain Pottery.

PLUS A WOOD-FIRED SERVING BOWL GIVEAWAY

woodfired-serving-bowl

You also have a chance to win a unique wood-fired serving bowl completely free. In addition, we will include free shipping to the US and Canada with expected arrival by Christmas.

Get all of your holiday gifts checked off the list with these special deals. Coupons end on December 15th and our serving bowl giveaway ends on December 16th, so act fast before these deals are gone.

“It is a campfire of love. It is the incense lying on glowing charcoals, filling the air with sweet memory of breath. It is the fire of community, feeding a central flame and bonding humans to the planet in overlapping and diverse patterns.”

Richard BresnahanMaster Potter speaking on wood-firing pottery in First Fire

Photography by: Nicole Pederson

Holiday Special: 50% off Nuka Cobalt Pottery, 40% off Mountain Pottery, $15 Funky Bowls

Whenever Joel is able to create a surplus of pottery, we can offer you great deals. Please enjoy these three awesome deals for pottery that will arrive anywhere nationwide in time for Christmas:

50% off all Nuka Cobalt Pottery

Coupon Code: HOLIDAYCOBALT50

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40% off all Mountain Pottery

Coupon Code: HOLIDAYMT40

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$15 Funky Bowl Sale

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Coupon expiration: Thursday, December 15th 2016. Please purchase by December 15th to guarantee nationwide arrival before Christmas. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

“The things I did because I was excited and wanted to see them exist in reality have never let me down and I’ve never regretted the time I spent on any of them.

Neil Gaiman, author, in commencement speech to University of the Arts Class of 2012 on Tim Ferriss’ blog

Photo credit : Kyle Cassidy

 Photography by: Nicole Pederson

Blue Pottery Giveaway: Cobalt Blue in Contemporary and Historical Art

Newer and Bluer Pottery: $600 Giveaway

The future of Cherrico Pottery is looking beautifully blue. Joel has been refining his craft and it’s visible in the newest Cosmic Mugs. Meticulous attention to detail by adding a fifth layer of glaze has resulted in amazingly colorful surfaces in his latest batch of pots. These new mugs are all about brilliant blues.

These aren’t the only Cherrico Pottery mugs to show the wonder of deep blue. Cobalt is a common glaze element to decorate bare pots. Cobalt blue gives special surfaces to many of our pots, including the Nuka Cobalt, Blue Moon Mugs and Mountain Mugs.

What’s So Great About Blue?

What do you think of when you see a Cosmic Mug? The goal is to resemble nebulae as shown in the left image. Hubblesite.org tells how it was created by ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from several young stars. Sounds like a rather complex and distant topic. Can we not also see the references to everyday life in these abstract blue drips, like rain collecting on a window, as shown in the right image?

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson helps us realize commonalities between outer space and everyday life: “Every one of our body’s atoms is traceable to the big bang and to the thermonuclear furnace within high-mass stars. We are not simply in the universe, we are part of it.

Blue hues in Cosmic Mugs come from Cobalt. It is a rare earth element that is mined all over the world. Five pounds of raw cobalt powder would form just a small pile in your hands, yet it costs hundreds of dollars. It’s the rarest element Joel uses. He combines low percentages of cobalt with other ceramic glaze chemicals like feldspar and silica. After firing to 2400 degrees F. the glaze drips cool and result in deep blue hues.

Don’t worry if you’re a bit confused- so are we. We don’t entirely understand what’s causing these colors, but they are stunning.

Joel’s cobalt blue pottery is also inspired by notable achievements in art history. These artists championed the color blue in their own unique ways:

  • Yves Klein invented a new hue of blue and used it in large bodies of work that captivated audiences with their brilliance and simplicity.
  • Picasso created essentially monochromatic bodies of work in various shades of blue during what is called his ‘Blue Period’.
  • Van Gogh used nearly ten thousand blue brush strokes per painting without blending in his skies, communicating movement and emotion in unique, new ways.

We want you to feel our love of cobalt blue through our special blue pottery giveaway.

The Big Blue Mug Giveaway

Enter our giveaway for the your chance to win some of our best blue pottery: a brand new deep blue Cosmic Mug, Lunar Cobalt, Nuka Cobalt or Mountain Mug might be in your future. Five winners will be chosen randomly for $600 total worth of pottery. The giveaway ends on November 8th at 5pm. Enter now so you get more time to post the contest to your Facebook and Twitter to gain extra entries.

Random Cosmic Mugs

Our giveaway isn’t the only good deal for you. The Cosmic Mugs in our Random Sale were also brought back from the farthest ends of the galaxies just for you. Stock is going down, so get yours now while they’re still available.

“Blue is the color of longing for the distances you never arrive in, for the blue world.”

– Rebecca Solnit, Author, from the creative nonfiction piece The Blue of Distance

Photo credit: Charles Kremenak

Photography by: Nicole Pederson

Fresh Pottery Friday: Cup Giveaway, Nuka Cobalt

“Standard Ware, Nuka Cobalt Cups” are pictured below. “Standard Ware” describe a type of pottery that is simple, durable and meant for everyday use. “Nuka” describes a historical Japanese glaze made with wood ashes, giving the glaze rustic colors that reflect the natural impurities in local wood ashes harvested from my region here in Minnesota. “Cobalt” describes the color blue, which comes from raw cobalt powder. This glaze combination is bright and complex, yet easy enough to reproduce that we can offer it for lower prices than Outer Space or Mountain Inspired pottery. To get more of these pots out into the world, we’re giving away two Nuka Cobalt cups, absolutely free:

nuka-cobalt-handmade-ceramic-pottery-cups-cherricojpg-edited

To win these two Nuka Cobalt Cups for free ($114 retail: $90 + $12 packing and shipping each) simply respond to the survey below, letting us know which of my @cherricopottery Instagram photos you like best before this Sunday at 11:59pm.

handmade-ceramic-pottery-cherrico-pottery-instagram  handmade-ceramic-pottery-cherrico-pottery-instagram-mountain  handmade-ceramic-pottery-cherrico-pottery-instagram-red

Thanks! One winner will receive an email this Monday and we will ship them free pottery, to nearly anywhere in the world. Winners are chosen randomly, limit 1 entry per person. Thanks so much for participating and for following our work. Good luck!

BONUS: Get one free bonus entry by leaving a comment on this blog post telling us which photo you like best and why.

Fresh Pots in the Online Store

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“I never wanted color to be color. I never wanted texture to be texture, or images to become shapes. I wanted them all to fuse together into a living spirit.”

– Clyfford Still, Abstract Expressionist Painter