While I do everything I can to ensure each piece is tested & ready for years of enjoyment, I also understand that imperfections can happen.

Ceramics can get cracks from being bumped, dropped, clinked in the sink, being microwaved too long creating hot spots.   Cracks can then lead to breakage.  This is not something I can control once a piece leaves my studio and I can’t compensate for these sorts of problems.

If you suspect your pottery has a defect from the making process, please take photos and email them to me with a description of your concern.  I will approach this as a learning experience and ask questions about its time spent in its new home. This will help me understand and rule out what might have or not have happened and if I can do anything to ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.  Your concern is very important to me.  Please remember I am not Walmart.  I am a human being who cares deeply about the work that leaves my studio and the user’s experience.  I am more than happy to refund the price paid for the item within a reasonable time period, should it have a studio defect,  and I will be grateful that you took the time to talk to me and answer questions about it and help me to understand and learn from the experience.

Yes!  It’s important to me to understand the materials I am using, how they work together, and be able to tailor glazes to fit my chosen clay bodies and to achieve specific effects that are unique to my own work.  While I have nothing against commercial glazes and have used them in the past and still on rare occasion, we don’t get to know what’s in them or understand their chemistry or be able to adjust them to fit a particular clay body well.  It’s a very convenient product that can save a lot of time.  Commercial glazes are more common these days.  It is my preference to finish my work in my own glaze effects.

I have studied glaze chemistry over the past few years and have taken glaze chemistry courses through Sue McLeod, world renowned glaze chemistry instructor and enthusiast who happens to live right here on Vancouver Island!  I continue to expand my knowledge of glazes through books, glaze groups, online resources and a lot of testing.  Making glazes is a lot of work but I find it quite rewarding to create something unique. 

Ollas are an ancient form of garden irrigation used in many cultures that provide many benefits to our gardens today! I wheel-throw my ollas with a terracotta type clay that has enough porosity at a specific fired temperature to leach out water to the roots as needed but does not just flow out. 

Benefits:

*Reduction of water evaporation/water waste from surface watering.
*Water supply is easily accessible to roots – the roots will actually grow towards the olla for access.
*Helps provide a continuous source of moisture, preventing the stress of inconsistent watering.
*Allows you to go away for the weekend without having to water.
*Earth-friendly. No plastics or chemicals.

Ollas are most suitable for:
Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, cucumbers, kale, greens, herbs, melons, squash, peas, beans..

Ollas are least suitable for:
Any root veggies that feed via taproot, including carrots, turnips, beets, radishes.

Size of Olla – will depend on the planting area. Raised beds, veggie pot gardening, and ground gardens will all have different amounts of space/ depth available. Your refill times will depend on many things including number and type of surrounding plants, drainage of the soil, and weather conditions.

Directions:

1. Dig a hole big enough to place the olla that allows the neck/top to stick out of the surface of the soil.

2. Thoroughly water the area of soil prior to placing your olla if the soil is dry). Consider placing the olla before planting your veggie starts next to it so you’re not disturbing roots to place the olla. Small plant starts will need surface watering until they have developed deeper roots to access the olla.

3. Place the olla in the hole, push the dirt around it to cover the body of the olla, leaving the neck/top accessible. Fill the olla with water. Place the lid on to reduce evaporation and keep garden creatures from drowning in it.

4. Check on your olla to see when it needs to be filled.

IMPORTANT: At the end of the growing season, please remove the olla, allow it to dry out, and store it dry for the Winter. If left wet/in the ground over Winter, ceramics tend to crack from expansion/contraction of freezing moisture in the pores of the pot.
Enjoy!!

I do not use lead or cadmium in my glaze formulations.  
I have access to safety data for all my clays bodies, provided by a reputable Canadian company who does extensive testing and provides access to information on their clays to their customers (above what many clay companies offer).
From the lab of my clay supplier: “we do not put any cadmium or lead in our claybodies, as this would be detrimental to both our workers and customers;  we would be legally obligated to disclose that information.”

I keep my prices as low as I can in a way that allows me to keep purchasing the materials, tools, and equipment that allow me to keep creating.  Handmade ceramics are an expensive and time-consuming process and they are a luxury item.  I have not marked up my prices to allow for discounts as I want them to be as accessible as I can make them.  If I were to offer discounts my prices would have to increase.

When buying from artists & craftspeople, I encourage you to seek out what fits for your budget and what you see value in.

Please contact me either through Facebook or info@ sandraleepottery dot com.

sandraleepottery at gmail dot com is my back up email if for some reason the website email is down.

For any inquiries or if you’d like to be added to my email list, please don’t hesitate to contact me.