Psst... Sara Rayner Just Added Some Pots for Sale

[BrianBay9]

.....Plus, unless the kiln is huge, one could only fire one or two of these pots at a time.....

There really are not that many potters that have the skills AND equipment necessary to make pots like this.

Her kiln looks huge. Have you seen the pics of it on her website? Looks like she rolls pots into it on a small railroad car!

Love her pots. Hard to get now, but occasionally find them resold by vendors out here.

 

[Sansokuu]

Also, pots this size can take weeks to dry. Dry it too fast, and it might crack. One tiny crack and the whole pot has to be scrapped.

Not even that, sometimes pots that dry with no cracks, bisque with no cracks, will then crack in the glaze firing. Fail rate goes up with the bigger pots, hence the higher prices with big pots (I still don’t think my husband charges enough for them at all).

Sara Rayner has a car kiln too, I believe it is probably 4x bigger than the kiln we have. It probably takes awhile to fill and who knows who she sells to.

Unfortunately at Nationals she was doing early sales and had sparse single (as opposed to stacked) pots left when open to the public. I didnt even get a chance to get a good look at them. Nao and I have a no early sale policy in place now (with minor exceptions).

 

[Colorado]

Not even that, sometimes pots that dry with no cracks, bisque with no cracks, will then crack in the glaze firing. Fail rate goes up with the bigger pots, hence the higher prices with big pots (I still don’t think my husband charges enough for them at all).

Yep, just happened to me the other day on a big round I was really excited about. It can be demoralizing at times not much you can do except move on to the next one!

 

[vp999]

I think a lot of people don’t have a full understanding of everything that goes into making pots - especially big pots like the ones that Sara Rayner makes. These pots require a lot of expensive materials. Plus, unless the kiln is huge, one could only fire one or two of these pots at a time.

Then you have to consider that each pot has to be fired twice - once for bisque and once for glaze.

Also, pots this size can take weeks to dry. Dry it too fast, and it might crack. One tiny crack and the whole pot has to be scrapped.

There really are not that many potters that have the skills AND equipment necessary to make pots like this.

Thanks for explaining the process...Now I have a much better understanding and appreciation for it.

 

[Sansokuu]

Thanks for explaining the process...Now I have a much better understanding and appreciation for it.

Also, glazes don’t always turn out how you expect. And potters have standards. Nao started out making pots for himself but sold all of his most beautiful pots; all his trees are potted up in his rejects. Wonky glazes, cracks, etc.

 

[rockm]

FWIW, I commissioned a very large (19") drum pot from Bryan Albright a while back. He had to make it three times, as firing and construction issues made the first two unusable. He said his profit for making the pot went out the window when the first pot cracked in the kiln. Making pots is a process that is fraught with unknowns, from the construction, firing to the glazing. Glazes can depend on where the pot is in the kiln in relation to the heat source.

Wood fired pots can show this markedly with deeper richer tones on areas exposed more directly to the air flow in the kiln and areas on the backside of that same pot showing lighter tones, sometimes not even in the same neighborhood as the front. A packed kiln can produce all manner of unexpected things. Ron Lang said opening his huge wood fired kiln after a firing was like Christmas Day because you never really knew what to expect (from glazes to warped pot)

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I've asked her to have an email list she can send out a day before she adds her pots to the site so those of us who don't have Facebook or refresh her site every hour for six months have a chance at buying her pots, but alas it's not meant to be.

I wonder if some sort of RSS feed would work...

 

[ForrestW]

Also, glazes don’t always turn out how you expect. And potters have standards. Nao started out making pots for himself but sold all of his most beautiful pots; all his trees are potted up in his rejects. Wonky glazes, cracks, etc.

That is funny-- My collection if basically the same. It was a struggle but last year I made and kept a few pots for my trees that did not have any flaws... Its nice to also see a flawed pot that has a small crack in it from 2005 is still in use in my collection almost 20 years later.

 

[Cajunrider]

Also, glazes don’t always turn out how you expect. And potters have standards. Nao started out making pots for himself but sold all of his most beautiful pots; all his trees are potted up in his rejects. Wonky glazes, cracks, etc.

Does he want to sell his rejects?

 

[Sansokuu]

Does he want to sell his rejects?

I think Andrew Robson has already called dibs on them

 

[snowman04]

So I grabbed a small cascade from Sara Rayner's website Thursday. Forgot to grab a pic but by the time I went back to get one it was off the website...

 

[Paradox]

All sold out now

 

[snowman04]

They were sold out on Thursday!

 

[Cajunrider]

I think Andrew Robson has already called dibs on them

It's all good. I just have to find other ways to reach my goal of owning some pots from Nao.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think a lot of people don’t have a full understanding of everything that goes into making pots - especially big pots like the ones that Sara Rayner makes.

What's interesting is that she never used to make big pots. For years her pots were all on the small side. At numerous shows I would ask her to make larger pots, because I have very few trees that need a pot smaller than 12". I was surprised, honestly, to go to her site and see how many larger pots she now makes.

 

[Colorado]

What's interesting is that she never used to make big pots. For years her pots were all on the small side. At numerous shows I would ask her to make larger pots, because I have very few trees that need a pot smaller than 12". I was surprised, honestly, to go to her site and see how many larger pots she now makes.

Interesting! It makes sense, as making large pots is exponentially more difficult than making small pots. Practice makes perfect, as they say

 

[Sansokuu]

It's all good. I just have to find other ways to reach my goal of owning some pots from Nao.

He'll be at Bonsai Central this year, and the Pacific Bonsai Expo.