The History of Arts Limited Pottery
Dickinson, ND 1975-2004
Glazes were developed using formulas pulled from a Daniel Rhodes book on glazes. The formulas were experimented with and when a glaze worked to satisfaction a name given to the glaze in the tradition of naming it for a family member or friend. This was how the colors were developed. A white base glaze with a cobalt colorant became TARA BLUE – a very intense royal blue color. A creme base glaze with colemanite as an ingredient with an iron oxide colorant became JASMINE – a buttery textured glaze with green, beige and blue tones possible, depending on the reduction and temperature. Other glazes that never really took on names were the base white, a dark celadon, a matte brown and a golden brown. The red color is probably the most varied. A blood red was the most desired result sometimes having blue flecks in it, but in oxidation a beautiful turquoise blue green was achieved. This color also produced a mauve or grayish red, though not a color often pursued, it was a popular color for many decor’s. Our red glaze was the white base with copper carbonate oxide added. Later a glaze formula with the name Flambe was used. Some other colors later added were a Tenmoku glaze and an amber celadon glaze and a shino glaze. These were added by Mary later in the 90’s. Even these few colors produced a wide variety of different tints and when layering glazes many tones. Reduction firing and the variation in temperatures as well as the type of clay also changed the colors. The signatures for the pieces included a DRH for David Rueben Huether and a MH for Mary Huether. There were variations in time, including the addition of one or more stamps made by Dave including – ARTS LIMITED, POTTERY, DICKINSON, NoDak, ND, family crest and variation of initials as stamps.
The type of kiln used for firing was a cross draft three burner natural gas kiln from plans in a book by Daniel Rhodes. It was name Vulcan. It measured approximately 36" deep by 30" wide. It was rebuilt in 1986 by Dave and in 1996 by Mary. Mary disassembled it in 2004.