Ditto, have pots from both Sarah Rayner and Vicki Chamberlain.
I watch the other people at my studio on the wheel do 20 mugs and I just have my slabs rolled and cut out for one pot.
It's hard to believe how much time goes into making a nice pot. The small mame pots I've been making take quite a bit of time to make. With such little clay one mistake can destroy the form of the pot. Sometimes it takes me a couple tries to make one pot that I can pull off the wheel.
I have more Sara Rayner pots than those of any other potter. She has been making bonsai pots for over 25 years now. I remember seeing some of her early work in the 1990s at a couple of the Midwest Bonsai Conventions, and was not impressed. But she got much... much... much better. I have sent her a few emails of praise over the years and she laughs about her earlier work. Believe it or not she says some people collect her earlier pieces as "developmental" pieces. To me, she is absolutely a pro - consistent at what she does, high quality, creative while still understanding the pot has to compliment a tree.
Makes sense to me.
Agreed, I only have two of her pots purchased at the Artisans Cup. Quality is high and very complimentary for the Mountain hemlock residents. Love her understated colour and texture! Particularly in her oval pots.
I have a couple, unglazed, bigger pots of his, in dark clay with and iron wash I think. I like them because they are bigger around AND deep also. I don't care for shallow pots
