by Laura Fowler Paulus
Hillsboro’s Treena Lucero is well known for her creativity having done photography and knitting for years. Many people have purchased and loved her products. So few were surprised when she recently revealed that she is now branching out into a new creative outlet.
“I started doing pottery and I love it,” Lucero said.
She explained that she started having trouble in her hands with carpal tunnel and arthritis and found she couldn’t knit as much.
“I still wanted to be able to create stuff. My mother-in-law has a kiln and I have always wanted to try it. So I decided to take a pottery class in Wichita in May and here I am,” said Lucero. “This is something I can do to still have a creative outlet but not work so hard on my hands. I still have to use my hands for this, but it’s not as hard on my hands as knitting. And it uses my muscles in different ways. I’m just having a blast.”
Her daughters bought her a wheel for Mother’s Day so she makes the pieces at her home and then she fires them in her mother-in-law’s kiln.
Lucero explained that it is quite a process to make one piece.
“Throwing on a wheel, something small, only takes five to seven minutes to make. But then you have to let it dry, and then you trim it. And then when it’s completely dry, you bisque fire it in the kiln. That’s a 24 hours process,” said Lucero.
She said she has to then wait for the kiln to cool off after she bisque fires it. Then she puts a glaze on the piece and she has to re-fire it.
“So that’s another 24 hours,” she said.
Lucero works on the pieces she sells at Hillsboro’s Farmer’s Markets for close to a week.
“It takes about a week start to finish. These I threw on Friday, and then you have to put handles on and maybe designs and all that stuff. And then I gotta let them dry completely. And then I fired them on Monday—the first fire on Monday. I glazed them Wednesday, and then I picked them up this morning [Thursday] from the kiln,” said Lucero.
She has had to learn a lot by trial and error.
“I’m brand new, so still learning. And clay shrinks, so you have to kind of learn how much the clay shrinks. When I threw these mugs, they started out huge, and then they shrink in the bisque firing, and then they shrink again in the glaze firing. So you think you’re making this huge thing and then it shrinks down. So it’s a big learning process,” said Lucero.
For the pieces that have designs, Lucero uses transfers. Some she leaves black and white and some she uses underglazes to add color.
She makes all types of pieces including pots, bowls, mugs, flower pots, spoon holders, herb stripper bowls and more.
“The flower pots have built-in little trays for drainage areas. The herb stripper bowls have holes in the side so when you put your herbs through, it strips them. It all falls in the bowl and then you add a little bit of oil and then you can dip your bread in it,” said Lucero.
She said she has had people ask her about getting started in pottery.
“I took classes at Wichita Pottery. And they’re kind of like a studio. You go and take an intro class there, and then you can join their studio, and you can use their wheels. You don’t have to buy all this stuff. I just did because I’m a little crazy. You can go and use their wheels during their open hours, and then they will fire for you and they will glaze. You can use their glazes,” said Lucero. “It’s a monthly fee, but it’s sure cheaper than buying all the equipment and doing it the way that I did it.”
Lucero and her items can often be found at the Hillsboro Farmer’s Market. She will be at Down Home Christmas in Hillsboro in December. She can also be contacted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/handmadebytreena.
