Are you looking to redecorate your bathroom but are in need of some inspiration? Why not start with one of our ceramic soap dishes? Take the warm and sunny Buttercup design for instance…

To create a beautiful bath around this design, you could paint your bath a soft shade of yellow and get a simple off-white shower curtain to complement the color palette. You may want to add a couple of our Buttercup Votive Holders for some warm lighting which is especially appealing when you have guests over for a special evening.

To finish off the look, fill a Buttercup Bella Vase with some artificial Buttercup flowers.

Voila! A beautiful bath that is affordable and easy to create.

Do you love the look of Emerson Creek Pottery but don’t know where to begin your collection? I would like to suggest you start with a simple dinner setting. The first thing you will need to decide is which of our unique handpainted designs you like best. Your dinner setting will include four beautiful handcrafted pieces. You will receive a dinnerplate, salad plate, soup bowl and a 10 oz. mug. Our dinner settings are sold in either one-piece settings or four-piece settings.

Collecting all of the place settings you want is part of the fun! Just tell your friends and family that you are collecting dinner settings from Emerson Creek Pottery whenever they ask what you would like for a special occasion! You’ve just made the art of gift giving a little easier for someone who cares about you and gotten something you really can use for years to come.

Hello! My name is Kristie and I am the Hospitality Consultant for Emerson Creek Pottery. I happen to be one of those people who really enjoy entertaining and find any occasion one to celebrate. I believe anyone can be successful at entertaining if you have a couple of key ingredients: 1. the right mix of people, 2. a couple of recipes you and your friends and family find delicious, and 3. attractive serving pieces.

At this time of year, I begin to think about Mother’s Day celebrations and how to make special memories not only for my mother but for my two young children. So, I’ve decided to host a special Mother’s Day Tea Party that we can all enjoy!

After a long winter here in Virginia, I am so drawn to the beautiful Buttercup, Wisteria and Red Poppy tea sets designed by Emerson Creek Pottery.  The Buttercup is so dainty and soft in its design. The Wisteria is truly indicative of Spring in Virginia as I see it in gardens and along the road in my travels. And the Red Poppy design…WOW…the vibrant colors that I’ve longed for in the past months. I must choose the Red Poppy for this occasion!

I’m going to keep the menu simple. My children will be thrilled with peanut butter and jelly tea sandwiches and my mother is a huge fan of pineapple nut sandwiches (see our recipes section for how to make this one). I prefer tuna salad to just about any other type of sandwich so I will have to have that on our menu as well. For garnish, I will surround the sandwiches with juicy orange slices and mint leaves. We aren’t fussy about what type of tea we have so whatever I have on hand will do.

I’m going to keep the decorations simple this year…a crisp white tablecloth and three Emerson Creek Pottery Red Poppy votive candle holders with unscented candles for this occasion to not overwhelm the flavor of the food.

To make our tea party memorable for years to come for my mother I’ve decided to buy her the Red Poppy Pie Plate as her Mother’s Day present. She does make a fabulous strawberry pie this time of year…maybe she will want to share. Hmmm…

Dear Emerson Creek Pottery,
I have two questions after seeing a wonderful example of your pottery:

Thanks for your time in responding, as I was born and raised on the lower
peninsula of VA, near Hampton. ~Tyler

Thank you for your interest. This is a very nice example of the sponging that we did on rims and edges of some patterns for about 10 years. My guess is you’ll find a date on the bottom of the piece in the 1980’s.

You asked how we used to do this spatter effect? Just like they did 150 years ago, with a sponge. Dabbing carefully and rythmically, (easier to say than to do), gives just the right amount of color, evenly dispersed on the rim.

No, we do not do “antique reproductions”. All of our work is original designs. But our pottery decoration has always been “in the style of” early American Folk art, with a flavor of Japanese influence that might have been occurring when the clipper ships were bringing back goods from the Orient.

Thank you for your inquiry and enjoy your historic pottery dish from the Emerson Creek Collection. ~ Priscilla

Good Afternoon, Readers!

Today, a customer sent us the following questions and photos about a collectible line of our pottery from the 1980’s.

I hope that my questions can be answered regarding 2 pieces of pottery The first is a smaller vase with your stamp and what I read as the year ‘89. It is gray pottery with blue wisteria vines on the front. The second piece is a taller juice jug with blue falling irises. Same make and year. I am looking for the value of each and how collectible they are. – D. Peters

Wonderful! It is great to see these old friends again. Yes, your pottery is very collectible. These are handthrown pieces, probably thrown by Jeff Podyma, in stoneware clay and fired by gas. Probably some of the last pieces in this genre. The decoration is Cardew Blue, ( cobalt-manganese mix) that we used to decorate all our pottery with. The smaller vase with falling leaves was called “Willow” and was probably decorated by Michelle Scalera who was the first decorator that I trained in our unique style. The other vase was probably decorated by me, a pattern that was a limited edition.

You asked about the value? We sometimes sell our “museum” pieces in our little retail shop near the factory. I would price these pieces at $65 or so for the smaller and $80 for the larger. Much more than you probably paid for them ( or the person who gifted them to you) but they have appreciated in value because they are collector’s pieces and harder to find.
Thank you for asking.
Priscilla

Well its that time of year again. We’ve got new patterns and its time for a new catalog. We thought that we’d do something different this year. Instead of shooting in the studio we went to a beautiful kitchen and bath showroom in Lynchburg. Kitchen & Bath Ideas has a variety of different set ups to display their cabinets and counters. They have both kitchen and bathroom set ups in their showroom. We hauled the pottery and all of our photography gear up there, and over a period of seven full days we photographed each pattern in a real home like setting. It shows off the pottery beautifully.

Now we are working on the design and layout of the catalog to make it easy to read the photos and see the pottery in a realistic setting. After a lot of thought and work we are on the homestretch. Watch the site for photos from our catalog shoot as they are put up.

Our Dragonfly Home Decor Line is New for 2007!

At Emerson Creek Pottery, we draw our greatest inspiration for our lines of home decor from nature. This newest line of traditional, American-made ceramic pottery calls up cool summer creeksides and fresh blue ponds where glistening dragonfiles skip along on the breeze. The atmosphere is relaxed, refreshing and inviting. The room may be formal, eclectic or modern, yet the dragonfly fits right in. We’re discovering that our customers are really excited about our Dragonfly pieces and the simple, elegant accent they add to the home. Continue Reading »

Hello Everyone,
My name is Jim Leavitt, and I’m the owner of Emerson Creek Pottery. I’ve been running a working pottery in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia since 1977. Our customers come to us to own a part of American history, because our pottery making techniques are based on the skills of our colonial forefathers. Our wide array of patterns lend themselves to both traditional and modern decor, and the handmade, handpainted quality of every piece of ceramic pottery we make ensures that when you shop with Emerson Creek Pottery, you are buying pieces that will last and last.

Today, I’m announcing our new blog! Our webmasters from Solas Web Design have just completed building this blog for us, and now I’ve got to get the hang of using it! Continue Reading »