Blue Canyon Ceramics Co.

There is nothing I like better than to brag on the cool things people are doing, especially if it is someone I know. Yeah, it's cool to share about my own great scores and ribbons, but it is so much more inspiring for ME when I get to see people I actually know being super successful.  

A Blue Canyon Ceramics Co. original.

To illustrate my point, do you all know about Lehua Custer? She was recently awarded the 2019 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize in the amount of $25,000. While we're not "friends," I do see her at shows and have chatted with her on a number of occasions. She's incredibly nice and deserves all of the success she's experiencing. Meeting people who are outstanding at what they do always inspires me to reach for more than what I think I can do.

Lehua Custer and F. J. Ramzes - Photo from Lehua's FaceBook page

Enter my friend Amy of Blue Canyon Ceramics Co. Amy is a geologist by trade, a mom by day, a barn owner by choice, and a horse girl bitten by the same bug that got all the rest of us. In addition to the ice business she and her significant other own and manage, Amy has also launched a new Etsy store, hopefully to be followed soon by a brick and mortar ceramics center.

I chose the word "center" because Amy eventually hopes to run a bit of a working school/supply store/pottery for sale shop here in Bakersfield. I have no doubt that it will be a great success.

Amy at her wheel "throwing a pot."

Right now, Amy is working out of a small studio she had built just steps from her barn. She has a pottery wheel of course, as well as her own kiln. Her studio is filled with clays of different varieties, glazes, and products in all stages of completion.

A few of the bowls Amy made while I was riding.

Amy is currently experimenting with a variety of clay types - I love the speckled clay she's currently using, as well as with mixing her own glazes for truly custom pieces. Even her "cast-offs," the pieces she feels aren't nice enough to sell, were beautifully rendered and glazed.

Two of the pieces I brought home made from the speckled clay.

Amy's Etsy store, Blue Canyon Ceramics Co, was just launched this year, but she's building her inventory daily. While she has items ready-made, her favorite pieces to do are custom orders. All she needs to create a beautiful piece is a "Can you make me a ... ?" Done!

A custom order in progress.

Surprisingly, prices for her creations, custom or ready-made, run from as low as $20 to $40 for more detailed projects. Her pieces are dishwasher, microwave, and oven-safe. The serving pieces I brought home are too beautiful to put in the dishwasher though. In fact, I left them out on my counter top for several days just so that I could look at them and smile.

While we were talking, I asked Amy for some photos of her working at her wheel. When I realized she was going to actually make something, I quickly switched to video and watched as she created a lovely bowl large enough for pasta or salad or just something to catch your keys and make you smile. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's fired and glazed. I have dibs on that one, Amy!

If you'd like to see more of Amy's work, you can visit her Etsy store, Blue Canyon Ceramics Co. Or, if you'd like something custom made for yourself or as a gift, simply give her call at 661-433-4472.

​I am loving that horseshoe motif ...