What does “Reannag Teine” mean? How do you pronounce it?
Liking the Gaelic language—and wanting a unusual, unused company name—we took “Starfire” in reference to the heat of the kiln and did a rough translation using a very useful online Gaelic dictionary, many thanks to the creators of that resource. The words are from An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language by Alexander MacBain in 1896 and revised in 1911. And, amazingly enough, we by chance picked worked that are pronounced phonetically: "reenneg teen."
reannag: a star, Irish reannán, Old Irish rind, constellation
teine: fire, Irish teine, Old Irish tene, g. tened, pl. tenti
What do the marks on the bottom of the pottery mean?
On the bottom of (most) of our pottery, there will be our maker's mark and a two-digit number, usually one number to either side of the mark, denoting the year it was made. Certain pieces (like rhytons, skulls, and squashed fairy pottery) seldom have marks... and there are also occasionally those that we miss putting marks on (sometimes we catch them and they'll get a painted mark but not always). Our mark consists of our logo: the dragon holding a book with its tail in a triquetra knot--but if a piece dries (and hardens) too much before we can stamp it, we will carve the triquetra in instead. Sometimes there will be an additional stamp, generally denoting pieces thrown during a "special" time period that effects them, like on site during the run of a faire, immediately after we'd moved shop, or when we are doing a run of "frost pottery."
How long will my order take to ship?
It really does depend on what you ordered, what time of year it is, and what the weather is like. If you order cookie stamps with no preference as to glaze color, they generally ship out with the week--unless we are currently on the road (sometimes for up to a month, see our Calendar). There are times when we have popular items such as Viking Kitties or Octopus on the shelf already made and ready to ship in quick order, and others when we have a supply of undecorated pottery on the in-progress shelf ready for a requested design, shipping time +1-2 weeks depending on how fast we can fill the kiln (and whether storms are threatening to knock out our power). When we as starting with throwing the piece for an order, it can be 1 month or so, depending on the weather (it greatly affects the drying time of the clay)--or its a complex piece like the majority of the Greek-specific forms it can take a couple months. Once an order is ready to ship, it's in the hands of USPS in terms of ship-time, though it is generally 2-3 business days for domestic shipments.
If you place more than one non-off-the-shelf order to be shipped to the same address within a month of each other, it is our policy to ship them together if possible, reducing shipping supplies, fuel usage, etc--one more small way to reduce environmental impact.
Does the triangle knot have a meaning?
That piece of knotwork, also known as the triquetra knot, has had different meanings put to it over the millennia that it has existed, once being known as Odin's knot among many other names.
Common modern interpretations include it being the "trinity knot" or, more universally, the "love knot." Other trios assigned to its points include truth-knowledge-nature, birth-life-death, and maiden-mother-crone. The number 3 also held significance with many Celtic deities. It most likely began as an ornamental design among the Picts and has been found as far back as 100 CE, three hundred years before Christianity entered the Celtic lands. The triangular motif dates back even further, found commonly on many kinds of pieces from 400 BCE, which means it probably traces back far beyond that time. The reason that we use it here is very close to that: it is a convenient, simple, and ornamental design that is easy to draw freehand and to elaborate upon in series or in complexity—and we like the way it looks. (BCE stands for "Before the Common Era" and CE for "Common Era," commonly accepted denotations among archaeologists and historians these days.) The same holds true for many other traditional designs we use: there are the modern interpretations of the symbolism found within the patterns, and there is the archaeological and historical extrapolation of what it meant at the time of its creation. We use them here for cultural and artistic ties.
Sets of a given item are possible, but remember: all the pieces are individually hand-made and hand-painted so no two pieces will or can be identical. Even pieces made in the same sitting will vary somewhat in height, width, and shape. They are not mass-produced from a mold and the designs, with few exceptions, are not from a stencil. Each piece of the set can be nothing other than unique, though obviously part of the set as a whole.
Yes, we will. We are limited to the size of pieces as our kiln is only so big. If you would like a piece with your SCA device on it, we will need an image of it emailed to us. We then will be able to give an estimate of cost based on its complexity and the amount of work involved. Since every design is hand-drawn, we do not change a special fee for custom work unless it involves creating specialized custom artwork from scratch. How do you place a special order? Email us with what you are interested in, including design, colors, choice of clay, sizes and shapes, types and number of pieces, any source information or references pictures you wish. we will reply with a quote and time estimate. And for those businesses out there, yes, we do take wholesale orders. Contact us for a quote.
How long does it take you to make those things?
It depends on the piece, the weather and our current workload, but here is an overview. First the piece has to be formed from wet clay, a process that can take anywhere from a few minutes for simple thrown forms to hours of construction over the course of days for large, multi-piece forms. After a piece is complete, it is allowed to dry out completely, which can be a day or two in the summer to weeks in the winter, weather permitting. Then the piece goes through a day-long firing in the kiln and another half-day cooling down, and it is ready for either under-glaze decoration or its final glazing. The pieces that are simply glazed must sit for a day to dry fully before entering their final day-long firing, but the pieces receiving under-glaze decoration must have their pattern penciled on before they are painted on then fired again for a day, and another half-day in cooling, to set the under-glaze. Only then will those pieces receive the final glaze and enter the final firing. After the kiln cools, the pieces are taken out, inspected, photographed, weighed, recorded, and ready for sale--or shipping.
We very seldom use any form of drawing guides on our pieces. Decoration is individually drawn freehand each time. That is one reason why none of our pieces are exactly alike.
Well, other than here on the website, you can also see us over on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. See our Contact page for a full listing of our in-person events and social medias channels. You can contact us directly if you can't get to one of our events and we will see if we can help you.
What care does it need? Will the pattern wear off?
Wash them in your dishwasher, and don't worry. Our pottery is safe for the oven, microwave, and dishwasher. The patterns will not wear off since they are under the shiny over-glaze. Made to be sturdy enough for years of traveling, we personally just layer our pottery dishes in napkins or hand towels for transport so they don't rattle about--and they generally go home in the ice-chest. We pack our stock in the table clothes you see them displayed on.
Do you have the rules to the games you make?
Yes, we have a page for the rules of the games.
How is the pottery made? Which of you does what?
For the brief overview, watch the video:
Ready for the long and complicated answer, folks? Remember, this is a family business: keeping it in the family isn't nepotism--it's sound economic practice for us--outsourcing an activity costs money. To use historical type terms in the creation of the pottery, we have the master, the journeywoman, and the apprentice. Each of us has our specialties and assigned tasks, but help out across jobs during impacted time schedules. Often our days start before 6am and may not end until after 10pm. Potters work to the time-table of the clay, not the one set by the clock.
The start of the journey of the creation of the pottery could be said to start with the delivery of the clay (yes, we get our clay pre-mixed so we know for certain there's nothing nasty in it and that the product is consistent). The journeywoman and apprentice, being younger and more fit, get the clay off-loaded and into storage. Every other day on average, a 25lb bag of clay is fetched in, generally by the apprentice. The journeywoman then cuts and weighs the clay hunks at the dictation of the master for the pieces to be thrown that day, handing them over in sequence to the master to throw, then taking the thrown pieces to be placed on the drying shelves. it is also the journeywoman's duty to keep the throwing water topped up, the throwing towel fresh, and any necessary reference images for the day's throwing visible. This keeps the throwing-productivity of the master high. Scrap from the pancake-thrown platters is taken away by the apprentice to make dice and eye-ball monster figurines. The apprentice is also responsible for clearing away clay build-up in the wheel-head.
As the pieces dry, the journeywoman preps handles needed for the day's pieces--which then have to dry some before being attached. Once the thrown pieces have released from the batts, the Journeywoman hands the pieces to the master for attachment of multi-piece vessels, handles, and the application of the maker's mark. depending on the weather this initial drying time can be only a few hours or could be measured in days. If items such as Greek rhytons are being made, the hand-sculpted structures such as the animal heads are rough-formed by the journey woman for the master's approval, allowing the master to spend her greater skills in the fine sculpting and figuring of the pieces and the highly technical attachment of the heads to their thrown necks, and the delicate attachment of handles, ears, and other components. The journeywoman takes scrap from the handle attachment process and creates game pieces, pendants, and moulded dice. Some wares, destined for Italian or Middle Eastern designs, receive a coating of white underglaze at this point. Completed pieces are taken by the journeywoman into the drying room, and once bone dry she loads the pieces into the computer-controlled Skutt eletric kilns. Generally, the master is busy during this process, painting on previously bisque-fired pottery. A few pushes of buttons, and the kiln fires itself to over 1850 F, an 18 hr process.
Once the kilns cool back down under 160 F (as little as 12 hrs after firing completes), the journeywoman unloads the kiln and brings the bisqued pottery into the work area. Generally, the master is busy during this process, painting on previously bisque-fired pottery.
Here is where is gets complicated: Small game pieces are immediately set aside to be high-fired. Larger game pieces and a portion of the pendants are sorted as to what color they are to receive and handed over to the apprentice to apply the color (underglaze) to. Carved game pieces, the rest of the pendants, and period wares are sorted as to what glaze they are to receive, their undersides waxed if applicable to prevent glaze from bonding the piece to the kiln shelf and set aside in the glazing room. Waxing is done with a segregated set of brushes by the journeywoman. Measuring cups are marked by the journeywoman, waxed and added to the to-be-glazed area. Generally and as usual, the master is busy during this process, painting on previously bisque-fired pottery.
Discussion of what design may go on a given vessel may start before the vessel is thrown or as late as when it comes out of the first firing. Custom pottery has a set design from the very beginning. Others may be period reproductions specifically thrown or otherwise built to receive a particular design...
...an interjection... The start of the journey of the creation of the pottery could also be said to begin with research. Some lines of research are based on customer requests--or tangents off those initial lines of inquiry. Some are based off the necessarily somewhat erratic acquisition of books on or containing references to or images of period pottery--books found by either the master or the journeywoman (or increasingly, brought to the our attention by our kind customers and friends, as it seems to be a trend that they have started in bringing us books). Customers and fans occasionally send us links to interesting pieces or to good museum websites, and it is the task of the journeywoman to sift through these and develop folders and files and bookmarked pages of the hazy goal of "good reference material" (and often used as a basis for her original artwork). While eyes are busy with screens, books... and painting... discussion of the research takes place constantly. It is from this pool of sifted reference material that the master will plan what to throw, what designs are to be applied to the grander wares, etc. Documentation write-ups are done by the journeywoman, who is more talented in writing (and because the master is generally busy painting).
...the remainder of the pieces are assigned designs "by committee" (though the master has the deciding vote): one or another of the team of three will point out a design out of stock, a popular one, a fascinating new design amongst recent research, or a perfect shape to which apply one of the journeywoman's original designs. It is the journeywoman's task to sketch the placement and layout of a given design, to a greater or lesser degree of detail, onto a piece using graphite (which burns away in the kiln). Sketches of very familiar designs are often rather cursory, while new or elaborate patterns may be redrawn multiple times before the piece is finished with the painting process.
Years ago, this process was simpler: the journeywoman drew and the master painted the designs with underglaze or with wax resist, but this is not the case anymore. With the addition of the elaborate painting of the Italian, Greek, and some of the Middle Eastern reproductions, the master is so, so busy with these skill-intensive paintings that the journeywoman is needed to do some of the less-skill-required underglazing such as the black ground of the Greek wares and some of the Middle Easterns, the wax-out patterns (though the master does the majority of the color inlays on the darker clays in that wax technique). An Italian platter can take 8-12 hours, or more, to paint with all it's delicate lines, elaborate detail, and finicky underglazes; this is master's work. Simple black designs like the Greek Octopus or the Iranian Tile pattern can be completed by the journeywoman's skills. Even this is a simplification of this stage of the process. Completed pieces join any pottery waiting to be bisque-fired.
Once the design is complete, most pieces require the design to be set-fired in the kiln to prevent the blurring of the painting when the glaze is applied. Simpler designs and wax-based designs are added to the collection to be glazed. Into the kiln the journeywoman puts the pieces again (generally, the master is still painting more pieces as she does this). A few button pushes and "Mr. Skutt" does the firing, which can take as little 4 hrs if there is no greenware in the kiln. (By the way, the master may take a break from painting to do more throwing, attach handles, or sculpt heads for rhytons...) Once the kiln cools to 160 F again, The journey unload the pieces, waxes the undersides to prevent shelf-stick, and spends several hours carefully brushing even coatings of glaze onto the pottery. Generally, the master is still painting more pieces while this is happening, as the painting takes more time than any other step.
This is the stage which requires the most care in loading the kiln, as the glaze will go through a state of being molten glass on the surface of the pottery, and molten glass is "sticky." When pieces "kiss" at this stage, the pieces become adhered to one another, the kiln shelf, or the kiln stilts, which is not fun. Though they often pop free, this leaves an extremely sharp defect that must be filed smooth or refired to repair. This is why the journeywoman does her best to avoid this--burnt fingers are one thing, but dripping blood is another. Need it be mentioned again that the master is painting during this? While the kiln takes 7hrs to get up to 2150 F and another 12+ hrs to cool, more throwing, drawing, and painting occurs...
When the pieces come out of the kiln this time, they are finished. The journeywoman unloads the kiln and photograph the pieces (to document what we have done)--while the master still continues painting. The additional, non-ceramic tasks of the apprentice include: tech support, general fetch-and-carry, and keeping the other two "entertained" while they work.
Pottery repair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHz4NjG9FW0&feature=youtu.be
What sort of clay (or glaze or underglaze) do you use? Do you make your own?
The clays and glazes we use are all formulated for the cone 5 and, while we do know how to make our own, all are commercially made and professionally tested for food safety. We use five different clays: the porcelaneous black with excellent retention used to mimic reduction-fired wares, the Grecian red stoneware, the all-purpose tan stoneware, the smooth white stoneware used to replicate stone paste and for certain forms like platters, and the cone 5 porcelain. Clays, since the inception of pottery, tend to be highly regional because it is heavy and therefor hard to transport from place to place in its raw form. Clay is also *not* simply used straight from the ground: after being taken from its deposit, clay must to be picked clean of inclusions like stone and roots, additives (like sand, finely-ground fired pottery--or in earlier times straw or manure) mixed in to make the clay more workable or improve its firing characteristics, and slaked to the proper working consistency and wedged to remove any air. This is a time-consuming and extremely laborious process now done by specialized industrial machines and batch-tested to ensure no toxic contamination. The formulation of modern food-safe glazes involves complex chemistry and to ensure food safety requires each batch be tested by one of the 2 labs in the US that does such tests--which is again why we purchase them pre-made. We will not specify the precise glazes, underglazes, or clays we use, however: such information comes under the old heading of 'trade secrets' and their selection process has, at times, meant years of research and considerable money expense in purchasing samples to test. Individual kilns affect the precise colors and qualities of the finished product as well, so the use of the same supplies will not guarantee the same results. (The adjacent picture demonstrates how the clay affects the glaze across 4 different clays: the top row is our mottle green and the lower our turquoise across the black, red, tan, and smooth white.)
Many of the events we do are medieval re-creation events put on by the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Inc, a nonprofit educational corporation. For further information on the SCA, go to www.sca.org. Go here for further information on the Northern Californian SCA events and here for SCA events in Oregon and Washington.
We have built an Amazon affiliate page to display the answer to that,
plus a list of Reannag Teine Resources
How does the weather affect pottery?
Pottery is greatly affected by the weather--as are the potters themselves... which is something you can frequently hear us chat about in our videos.
Temperature and humidity change how fast the pottery dries: a mug that can take 3 days to dry enough simply to attach the handle in winter could be ready for its handle in a mere 3 *hours* in the summer. We can control this to a certain level with fans, heater, woodstove, dehumidifier, wrapping in-progress pieces in plastic, and pouring water on the floor--but there's always that point when the weather wins. Low humidity occurs in both summer and when the temperatures drop below freezing and can cause cracking (and ice formation when its cold long enough, see Frost Pottery below).
Extreme temperature changes when its comfortable and productive to be in the studio: while in the summer we work in the mornings to avoid the heat, in the winter we're in the studio later in the day to make the most of the day's warmth from the sun and lessen how much heating we have to use. High heat can also delay firings: our kiln is electric and too high a temperature will fry the controller... which is a pricy repair...
Sudden changes in weather can also be detrimental to pottery: causing delays in drying, cracking, timing offsets in multi-step projects, trapped moisture (the piece will feel dry but explode in the kiln), etc
This is a style of pottery that happened on accident the first time our shop dropped below 30*F overnight but we now create purposely whenever we have the correct conditions: frost pottery is pottery that we allow to freeze solid immediately after it is thrown. When there is a prolonged period, we will throw using the one clay that best withstands the still-wet pieces freezing solid. The ice crystals form patterns on and in the wet clay. Though some pieces collapse or develop wide fissures, most survive the defrosting process and retain their unpredictable frost ferns and ice fissures as they dry. Once they are fired for the first time, color can be applied to bring out the details. Each one is extremely one-of-a-kind and we can only make them during certain cold snaps, which may not even occur every year.
My order was damaged in shipping--what do I do?
Our standard shipping is USPS insured: if your shipment was damaged in shipping, please take pictures of damage, packaging material, label, and box immediately. Make sure you photograph obvious damage done to the exterior box. You will also need the info off the shipping label and a screen-cap or picture of you order email receipt. Contact us if you need assistance. You will need all these for the insurance claim, and must file the claim within 30 days of receiving the package.
For within-USA packages: USPS insurance only covers item value, not shipping cost
You can check on the status of your claim online:
For international orders: To submit a GlobalPost or Global Advantage Program insurance claim, please open, complete, and save the GlobalPost/Global Advantage Claim Form, following these guidelines:
Once the claim pays out and the funds get to us, we can get started on replacing the damaged items(s).
No response to the email/message sent to Reannag Teine...?
If you don't get a response from us within a week, please try to contact us again. Sometimes emails and messages get lost in the interwebs -- and there there is a known issue where we cannot send replies to a certain format of email address, like outlook_(alphanumberic.code)@outlook.com--if your email app sends with this, please, please resend your email from another address because it *will* bounce replies.
Bisque: (bisk) first firing, generally to cone 05; as in bisqued (fired once) or bisqueware (a piece that has undergone its first firing), not yet food-safe
Butterbells: also known as french butter dishes, the dish consists of two parts: the lower cup which is filled with water, and the inverted cup portion in which the butter goes
Cone: kiln temperature ratings: lowest around cone 020 up to 01 then to cone 1 up to cone 10 or higher. Low-fire is generally cone 06 to 03, most clays are not yet vitreous. Mid-fire is cone 4 to 7, most clays become vitreous. High-fire is cone 9 and up, clays like true porcelain become fully vitreous and attain a fine high glass-like ring
Earthenware: NOT FOOD SAFE! Earthenware is porous, like flower pots, with an absorption rate over 18% and can collect germs within the fabric of the clay
Glaze: a thin coating of glass, applied before the final firing as a blend of powdered minerals mixed with water, either commercially bought or formulated in the studio
Greenware: clay not yet fired, anything from wet clay to dry;
Grog: finely ground fired ceramic material added to clay to add strength and reduce shrinkage
Kylix: "a type of [Greek] wine-drinking cup with a broad relatively shallow body raised on a stem from a foot and usually with two horizontal handles disposed symmetrically."
Pipkins: medieval cooking pots
Porcelain: Ceramics that are porcelaneous are ones with an absorption rate below 2%; we use both a white "porcelain" and a porcelaneous black clay
Raku: pottery taken from the kiln red-hot and placed in burnables, like sawdust or newspaper, causing rainbow, crackle, or metallic finish glazes and turning the bare clay gray to black with the smoke; NOT food-safe
Rhyton: is a container from which fluids were intended to be drunk, or else poured in some ceremony such as libation. The conical rhyton form was known in the Aegean region since the Bronze Age, and elaborate animal-headed and figural ones developed later
Sand: added to clay to add strength and reduce shrinkage
Slip: liquid clay, either for attaching pieces or decoration, used only on greenware
Sgraffito: a scratched or incised design; this is also the root word for graffiti.
In reference to Greek pottery: "Graffito (pl. graffiti) - A mark incised into the vase (usually under the foot), most commonly letters or numbers but sometimes also words and short phrases. They may indicate prices, trademarks or ownership. Simliar marks, but painted, are called dipinto."
Skyphos: a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim, or they may be loop handles at the rim or that stand away from the lower part of the body. Some have one horizontal and one vertical thumbhold handle
Stoneware: generally a coarser clay, but by absorption rate definition fired so it absorbs 8-13% moisture. Our most popular clays fall into this category: the coarse, cream stoneware (good strength and great workability--and for those who wish to cook medieval-style in pottery, it has one of the best thermal-shock values. It resembles numerous clays described in texts as a "coarse/ sandy buff fabric." This is our most popular and versatile clay), the smoother Grecian-style red clay, and our smooth creamy-white stoneware used for platters and Isnik-style tankards
Underglaze: colored, matte substance like glaze but with no melting agent, so it will neither seal the surface nor run, used to create designs
Vitreous: clay becomes stone-like and non-porous, suitable for food or drink when glazed correctly
There is a huge variety of Grecian vessels that we have made. Below of examples of some of the other forms we have made. Please email us if you are interested in any of these.
What we sell is handmade pottery, thus there will always be variations and features to the things we create. It is part of the process. All sales are final. No return shipping labels provided. We are not responsible for any fees incurred for package pick-up for international orders; our shipping fees cover shipping only and not any additional fees charged by the receiving postal service.
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