Cheeky pottery business founder Erin Callahan St. John shutting down the kiln
The heavy lifting involved in working with clay for Saucy Pots Pottery has taken a toll
A St. John's business that puts sassy phrases on pots is closing its doors but there's still time to get a cheeky clay cup for yourself or for that saucy someone in your life because it will be firing the kiln until Christmas Eve.
Well-known family-run business Saucy Pots Pottery has produced tens of thousands of clay pots with four-letter words and irreverent phrases imprinted on them. And by setting Newfoundland's unique language in stone with phrases like "Big Sook," "Hard Case" and "Mudder," the clay cups are a way of preserving the history of old English and Irish dialect mixed with a few good swears.
"People flock to the pots. People really connect with the language, especially the curse words," said Saucy Pots Pottery owner Erin Callahan St. John. The handmade cups speak for themselves and have been a gift-giving go-to for people with a sense of humour since the pottery shop opened its doors in 2014.
Callahan St. John is closing the shop to preserve her mental and physical health. Working with clay involves a lot of heavy lifting, which has caused the artist to struggle with tendinitis, which limits the amount of work that she can do in the studio.
She says she has "mixed feelings" about closing Saucy Pots' doors.
"I have put my whole heart and soul into this business. It has been an amazing journey and I have learned so much," she said. ''I've been in the clay business for 20 years and I'm kind of ready for a career change."
Saucy Pots pottery got its start at the Partridgeberry Festival in Tilting, when Callahan St. John made shot glasses and pins with Fogo Island town names. Her clay creations were an instant hit with the local residents and quickly gained popularity within the province. The saucy Newfoundland sayings on clay cups gained national and international customers when she attended the One of a Kind Trade Show in Toronto and sold out all of her products.
After she closes the doors at 2 Clift's-Baird's Cove Rd. for the last time on Christmas Eve, Callahan St. John will continue to share her gifts and talents in a way that doesn't involve any physical labour. She plans to help other artists with grant writing for small businesses by teaching them how to navigate the sometimes confusing process of finding funding and support.
She already offers workshops to small businesses and artists in grant writing, and provides a plethora of resources for artists and small business owners, and is looking forward to expanding that work.
"I will start another business later in life. But for now I want to step back and go back to school," said Callahan St. John, who said she wants to pursue a master's degree at Memorial University's Grenfell campus.
"I've also been doing a lot of grant writing for the last 10 to 15 years, so I'm interested in pursuing grant writing teaching and consulting."
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