The father of our country is apparently a man who is true to his roots. Shown here with his horse, Magnolia, look closely and you can see that George Washington has Halcyon Pottery’s cherry pie plate tucked under his arm. No doubt he is making his way back to Mt. Vernon’s kitchen with a cherry pie on his mind.

Here is a recipe for a presidential cherry cobbler which is also a good choice.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the pastry topping: Sift together 1 cup flour, 1 T sugar, 1 1/2 t baking powder, 1/2 t salt. Cut in with a pastry blender 3 T shortening. Stir in 1/2 cup of milk to make a soft dough.

For the cherry layer: in a saucepan, mix together 2/3 to 1 cup of sugar, 1 T cornstarch. Slowly stir in 1 cup of boiling water. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Add 3 cups of fruit with juice. Pour the mixture into your baking dish. Dot with butter. Drop rounded spoonfuls of dough evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm with cream.

Venus, who is emerging from the sea as a full-grown woman, was pictured as standing on a scallop shell. A blue-ribbon team of forensic art examiners using high tech testing devices on the painting have revealed that Venus is actually standing (being served up?) on Halcyon Pottery’s lovely (and versatile) ginko platter.

Art critics around the world are celebrating this discovery and wondering what new surprises the forensic art examiners will turn up next.

See more Ginko-ware at Halcyon on Etsy.

Yes, the potters of Halcyon have turned up again in history. This time during the Crimean War. As you can see, Florence is holding one of Halcyon Pottery’s house lamps as she makes her rounds.

Florence was a pioneer in the field of nursing and what setting could be more challenging than nursing wounded soldiers close to the battlefield. My hat is off those pioneers and the men and women who serve and support our troops who are in troubled areas today.

You remember Chinese Checkers from when you were a kid. Halcyon’s board, however is a fourteen inch wide hexagon, glazed in black and white (very Yin and Yang) and is enhanced with a stamped symbol for longevity.

How special to be held by such a famous figure. I wonder if David is giving his game as a gift….

The hand-made polymer clay marbles come in primary hues marbled with black.

One of the nicest things about clay is its quality of squishiness. It moves when you push it. You can draw on it, paint on it, make it into snakes, roll it into slabs, carve it with a knife, punch holes in it with whatever.

One technique we are still exploring is stamping. Stamps for clay have to have some special features. They have to have well defined textures and designs because clay particles are larger than ink particles and clay will quickly clog up fine lines and crosshatchings. That makes metal stamps for printing (details and textures are too fine) and rubber stamps (not deep enough definition) mostly unsuitable for clay stamping. Clay stamps should be made of a material that will easily release the clay so it does not get stuck in the stamp. We have found that bisqued clay is ideal – we have a lot of it around, it is easy form and carve, it is porous when fired to bisque temperature making it easily release from moist clay.

stamps - just carved

The platter in the photo is a hand-thrown, white stoneware tray or platter with a pulled handle and an incised decorative medallion.  The piece is thrown and then allowed to become leather hard.  This is a potters term that means the clay is still moist enough to do some shaping, but has dried sufficiently so that it is not as soft as when it was first thrown.

The next step is to turn the piece over and trim the excess clay from the bottom, making a nice beveled shadow line so that it looks as though it lifts slightly from the table it is on.  This is also the time to add the handle – pulled from a tapered ball of clay – by coaxing into a long strap-like handle shape by applied pressure using mainly the thumb and knuckle of the index finger – somewhat like milking a cow, but with less pressure.

When the handle is applied and the dots and swooshes added, one of the potters carefully carves the decorative medallion with fine, very sharp tools.

When the tray is completely dry it is first fired to what is called bisque temperature making the piece easier to handle, but quite brittle.  Glaze is applied by dipping or by brush and a second firing in the kiln yields a vitreous object respendently showing the true colors of the glaze.

Take a look at Halcyon Pottery on Etsy for more information about this piece.