Canyon Creek Pottery opens in Sisters

The home and business of potter Ken Merrill.

Canyon Creek Pottery, located at 310 Cedar Street, is now open for business.

The quaint pottery shop, owned by Ken Merrill, is tucked just two blocks behind the middle school, at the corner of Cedar and Adams streets.

Merrill has lived in Sisters for the past four years. He moved here from Ennis, Montana, where Ken said, "I owned and operated a pottery business just like this one....and fished a lot!"

Merrill said that friends and warmer winters brought him from Montana to Sisters.

"In Montana I lived in a real windy spot, and when it got cold, it was miserable!" he said.

Opening his business in Sisters posed a bit of a problem for Merrill, since he wanted the business to be based out of his home.

According to Merrill the area where he lives was recently rezoned as commercial, but is still a residential neighborhood.

"The old residential ordinance didn't allow any retail sales for in-home businesses," he said.

Merrill met with City Planner Neil Thompson and was told that in order to open for business he would have to change his property completely over to commercial, which would include putting in sidewalks, a drain field, and paved parking.

Merrill wanted to keep his property residential looking.

"If I had to adhere to all the commercial requirements it would have been a real shock to the neighborhood," he said. "It also wouldn't have been feasible for me investment-wise, since we're not located in the center of town and really don't get any foot traffic."

Merrill said that, "After talking with the city planner it was suggested I talk to the planning commission about changing the existing in-home business ordinance. After looking into the situation the planning commission developed a transitional ordinance which allowed me to open a business based out of my home."

Canyon Creek Pottery is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shop carries a very wide variety of handmade functional pottery, which includes mugs, bowls and pie plates.

There are also lamps, vases, fountains and some light fixtures. A sample of Merrill's light fixtures is on display at Angeline's Bakery and Cafe.

Most of Merrill's merchandise is "high fire" stoneware. Merrill also does some "raku," which is a Japanese firing technique. Raku is a more decorative glaze, rather than a functional one, and is used more on vases and lamps.

Merrill does the majority of the work himself. The pottery making process starts with Merrill making his own clay.

Georgies, a supplier out of Portland, mixes up a "dry" recipe specifically for Canyon Creek Pottery. Merrill adds water to the dry ingredients and puts them in a clay mixer, and then runs it through a pug mill.

This makes the clay ready to be thrown on the wheel.

Merrill hand-throws each piece on a potter's wheel and then lets it sit overnight, ready to be trimmed the following day.

Next, the pieces are bisque fired to 1,800 degrees in an electric kiln. Finally, the pieces are glazed and loaded into a glaze kiln where they are fired 12 hours to 2,400 degrees. It takes Merrill about two weeks to make enough pieces to fill the kiln.