Save My Small Town

Just a mile and a half outside of Clay City, KY on Route 11 rests a gift shop owned and operated by Elihue Shepherd and Ruby Means. In it, one can find an amazing assortment of unique handcrafted items and be satisfied they have seen all that Clay City Pottery offers. However, the gift shop is but one nugget of the handcrafted goodness Elihue and Ruby have in store for visitors.

I stopped by for an afternoon with my neighbors at Clay City Pottery and was delighted to meet  with Ruby in the roadside gift shop. There, she gave me a tour of many of their finished works  for sale. Among the items were jars, mugs, jugs, stoneware pitchers, baking dishes, and more. The variety of pieces they make on site was really surprising. But as no surprise, their functional pieces are their top sellers: for example, their bacon cookers and bake ware.  In addition to vast shelves of finished works, the shop has the beginnings of an area dedicated to ceramics classes, which Ruby says they hope to begin before Summer’s end. See Clay City Pottery’s online catalog and updates at www.claycitypottery.net

My tour continued with Elihue to the barn which houses their full service ceramic supply shop for ceramic artisans and is also home to some 10,000+ ceramic molds. Elihue says some of their molds are for sale and they are making new molds all the time.  I was excited to learn that among their many molds are a few that belonged to my grandmother who was a ceramic artist and teacher for several years. I have many fond memories of her ceramic shop and the students she taught each week. Such nostalgia makes me look forward to those classes getting started. Also in the barn are their four active kilns and three pottery wheels used to fill their online orders seven days a week, the shipping station, and a break area for workers to grab a cold drink or heat up some lunch.

But wait, there’s more!

The loft area of the barn houses an art library and classrooms for their future arts school! Elihue says the school is projected to be open and ready for students by mid 2011. Both he and Ruby have been involved in arts and crafts since childhood and will be teaching the classes offered. Elihue has made pottery since childhood and he is also an inventor, welder, blacksmith, woodworker, sculptor, miller, and makes musical instruments when he isn’t gardening, tending to rental property, or lending his wisdom to local budding entrepreneurs. Elihue was recently asked to demonstrate his pottery craft on a wheel for visitors at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Boonesborough, KY as part of their living history tour. In the ceramic industry over 10 years herself, Ruby has been painting since childhood on all kinds of items, she also sews, quilts, makes old fashioned scented soaps, and scented candles. She serves as a Ceramic Artist Guild Ambassador for Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. I’m hoping I can convince her to teach a class on soaps and candles too.

Now all of this was exciting enough for me to find in my neighborhood, but the tour was not over. As Elihue and Ruby’s plans develop, I will return with more information and pictures about the grist mill, water wheel, blacksmith station, and plans for a rug loom. These partners aren’t just selling their wares out on Black Creek Road, but rather they are trying to preserve the crafts of the region. Don’t miss this stop on your way to Mt.Sterling and be assured it is well worth the short drive from the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway exit 16.

Add this blog to your favorites or subscribe and check back often for updates on Clay City Pottery’s class schedule. You can also visit Clay City Pottery’s fan page on Facebook.