Every since I was a little girl I have always loved clay (and being very messy!). In elementary school I was granted the opportunity to be in the gifted and talented art program. I designed several musical program covers, painted artwork seasonally on the school doors and windows, and commuted to the high school art room to learn how to throw clay and hand build items. I was also blessed with parents that valued an art education highly and enrolled me in several classes at the Lakes Art Center. There I learned more about clay and pit-firing, multimedia sculptures, stained glass, painting, drawing and so much more.  Throughout high school I continued to take every available art class and had a great instructor who took the time to make sure her children learned what they needed to know.

Each piece of Spafford Pottery goes through several general stages when handbuilding or throwing each and every piece. The process starts with making the item out of wet clay by whatever method serves that piece the best. Several pieces can be made at one time and then set aside. When the clay is hard enough to handle but still wet (time for this to occur depends on studio conditions- it can be a half of a day to a day, can be at a logicial time or as insane as 3 am), I then trim each piece and add any attachments like handles and my name to the bottom. The item is then set aside to fully dry. This can take from 2 days to a week depending upon the humidity. Some items need an even slower drying time than this and precautions are taken to slow this time down or else cracks will occur and the item would then need to be recycled.