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Herb and Connie Allred were made of clay by a benevolent being (whose name shall remain unpronounceable) who thought that the world needed more potters.
One of Connie's earliest childhood memories is of making mudpies on the family record turntable and discovering that she could fling more mud farther by cranking the speed up to 78. As a young adult, she refined her technique and today can throw clay all the way across the studio.
Herb has a certificate of mental competency from a mail order university in Bear Creek, North Carolina, despite a fixation on his mother's childhood warning: "If you don't stop making those faces, they'll turn to stone ... or at least ceramic."
After they hand-form and sign each piece, it is allowed to dry, still smoking from the intensity of direct intention. It is bisque fired at 1830 degrees F, then decorated and glazed. The reduction gas firing to cone 10 (2350 degrees) fuses the non-toxic glaze to the clay body.
Their uncommon hand-sculpted face mugs and their other whimsical and functional pieces are available at Lakewood Pottery in Siler City, the Chatham Arts Gallery in Pittsboro, Village Pottery in Seagrove, and Village Craftsmen on Ocracoke Island. North Carolina, of course. Periodic offerings are also available at local pottery venues .