Pottery by Wes

Wesley Evans is a jack of all trades; master of clay. He’s a farmer who does chair caning repair, plantation shutter installation, and he is a potter all in one. Wes got into pottery after watching a master potter in Arkansas while shopping with his wife Cheryl. He knew a little about pottery thanks to a second cousin, who has helped him along the way, but he decided to pursue it after that trip to the Land of Opportunity and getting to sculpt with his cousin. It helps that Wes has always liked getting his hands dirty, “I’ve always played in the mud since I was a little boy and all I’ve ever done is farm,” so for him, pottery was right up his alley.  

Wes has an array of pottery he has made in the workshop just outside of his house. Having started in December of 2017, Wes was planning on a small pottery operation but, “folks had other plans for me. They sort of like my stuff.”

Pottery by Wes is a one-man operation. Wes does everything when it comes to creating the pottery. He buys the clay, gets it back to his shop, measures it into the pounds needed to make the pieces, and finally, Wes begins the process behind sculpting each individual piece. Different pieces take different amounts of clay. A crock for your kitchen utensils takes about six pounds of clay to make whereas a cup takes about one pound, one pound and a quarter of clay. 

When Wes goes to make his pottery he will sit down ready to make as many pieces of the same design he can, “As long as you sit down and concentrate on one design they’ll be more uniform. If I try to make a cup today,” one that would go with a set that was made another day, “it will be a little taller, a bit bigger around.” It has a lot to do with the fact that he’s using the same little ball of clay, doing it one right after the other. It can create a type of muscle memory when he’s in the moment. 

It takes three weeks to go from a ball of clay to a finished piece of pottery. Once Wes has made his piece of pottery, it has to sit out and dry for a long time. After the piece has dried, it has to go in the kiln at 1800 degrees Fahrenheit for twelve hours to cook. The cool down period after the first bake is another twelve hours in the kiln. After all of this time in the kiln, the pottery is ready to glaze. “First you paint the bottom with wax. That’s why the ring is so perfect and then you can dip it and glaze it and it does like rain dance on your windshield—the glaze doesn’t stick. If that glaze comes down, drips down and comes onto the shelf, it’ll crack the finish on the pottery and it’ll mess your shelf up.” After being dipped in the glaze the pottery is ready to go back in the kiln for another eight hours at 2200 degrees. Wes can fit a lot of pottery in his kiln at one time, “It depends on the size. If I have some smaller stuff like the hearts I do then I can fit more of them.” If he’s baking larger pieces however he can’t fit as many pieces in the kiln.

There are also other considerations when it comes to the size of a piece of pottery and how much clay it takes. There is a 12-15 percent of shrinkage on each piece of pottery. The shrinkage comes from all the drying and heating being done to the clay. So, if someone wants a set of plates no smaller than ten and a quarter inches across, Wes will make them 12 inches to start off with, but by the end of the process after everything is said and done, they can come out at around ten and a half, ten and three-quarter inches across because of the shrinkage.

There are also three different types of clay. “I have a medium clay, a red clay, and a dark clay. The dark clay has a lot of grog or spots in it.” The spots are little dark pieces that will add a textured look to the clay. The color of the clay also affects the glazes. There could be two pieces of the same type of pottery with the same glazes but the color of the clay will change what the pottery looks like. Wes told us that “It’s a process to go from a ball of clay to a finished product.”

Wes’ biggest fan is his wife Cheryl. While she hasn’t been able to keep his newest pieces, she does have the first pieces he ever made. Cheryl also goes with her husband to sell his pottery, helping to set up the displays and explain what each of the pieces are. Together they make Pottery by Wes possible. Happy One year anniversary Wes! We look forward to seeing where the future takes you!