CLAY CREATIONS `FIRED' IN PATTON

Linda Zimmer admires a set of earthenware in a bedroom of her home. Zimmer has been making the unique objects for about six years.

An earthenware cow strides across the top of one of two electric kilns in Linda Zimmer's workshop. Earthenware is 'fired' at 2,055 degrees.

Mud -- not a very pretty sounding name, so let's call it clay. Either way, the wet, earthy substance takes a thousand shapes in the workshop of Linda Zimmer of Patton.

For the past half dozen years Zimmer has taken a special mixture of clay -- called slip -- poured it into a myriad of molds, painted the hardened designs and put the heat to them. The result is earthenware, and earthenware is as popular to the collector or gift giver as a mud puddle is to a pig.

"When everything turns out right, they can be beautiful and unique," said Zimmer, referring to earthenware that can be in the form of everything from frogs to birds to outhouses to castles. "And they can be painted just about any color you can think of."

Zimmer, who was born in Cape Girardeau and attended Southeast Missouri State University -- she's certified to teach English, Spanish and library -- also attended a ceramics class six years ago. That was the beginning of a hobby that evolved into a home-based business -- Farmhouse Arts.

"I had a friend who made ceramics, and I thought it was interesting how she worked with clay," Zimmer said. "I went to a ceramics workshop in Jackson, and started to learn about earthenware."

Zimmer says the art of creating ceramics covers any kind of 'fired ' (heated) clay. It can be porcelain, stoneware or earthenware. The type of ceramics depends on the kind of clay, how the clay is mixed with other substances, and how it is handled and fired.

Zimmer started making her earthenware in her kitchen, "where everybody does," then moved the operation to the basement of her home on County Road 366.

"I bought some molds and started casting my own pieces, then I bought an electric kiln and worked one summer out of my smokehouse," she recalled.

The earthenware endeavor moved again -- this time into a porch at her house. For four years the porch workshop would produce countless birds, rabbits, cherubs, villages, baskets, dishes and farm animals.

"And after four years the living room was so full of pieces that you couldn't sit in a chair or even walk around. They were also all over the dining room.

"Since the first few steps in making them are very dirty, because you work with mud and water, there was dirt everywhere. It got to be too much," she said, laughing at the memory.

About four years ago Zimmer built a large workshop behind her home, and it's equipped with two high-temperature kilns and about 1,500 molds of various designs and sizes.

The first piece of earthenware she created was a rabbit. Slightly dusty, it's brown and sits on a shelf in the workshop.

"Rabbits were real popular six or seven years ago. That's when ducks were starting to go out of style. I've got maybe 100 different rabbits I can make," she said, turning the pages in a catalogue that lists thousands of molds that can be ordered.

Zimmer says the companies that make molds have research and development people who conduct surveys to see what pieces and designs will be popular.

"They know what will go and what won't. This year what's going good are Old World Santas. They're sculpted by an Australian."

The "purists" who create earthenware, says Zimmer, mold clay with their hands and a few tools, some even mix their own materials. She says they tend to "look down on people who use molds, but after we cast them, we make them unique by the way we finish them."

Molds are made of plaster and the clay "slip" is poured into them. The plaster "pulls" the water out of the slip, and as it does the slip thickens and hardens to the consistency of leather.

When the desired consistency is reached, the mold is turned over and the excess water removed. The slip is allowed to set and cure, after which the mold -- usually made of two pieces held together by a rubber band or straps -- is taken apart.

The slip is now called greenware and it has a seam that must be trimmed.

Painting is the next step, says Zimmer, and underglazes in various colors, or transparent, are applied, sometimes several coats are brushed on. Her daughter, Sara, a sophomore at Southeast Missouri State University, assists in the painting.

If acrylic paints are used, the pieces can only be used for decoration, food should not be placed on them.

After the piece has been "fired" in the kiln -- the first firing is at 2,055 degrees for a length of time predetermined by a cone that burns and acts as an on/off switch -- a glaze is applied.

Zimmer says glazes in this country used to contain lead, and many glazes in foreign countries still do. The metal would help the glaze flow and encompass the piece.

If not properly fired, the lead will leach into foods placed on the piece, especially if the foods are acidic such as tomatoes and oranges.

The second firing of a piece of earthenware is done at 1,905 degrees. Sometimes four firings are necessary to achieve the desired results.

Zimmer sells her pieces wholesale to stores in Perryville, Biehle, Jackson and Fredericktown. She also shows her wares at two crafts shows each year, to include the show at the Show Me Center last weekend.

"The popularity of pieces tends to change every year," she said. "Cherubs used to be popular, then they weren't, now they're back in demand."

Also in demand are fantasy pieces such as castles and dragons. Says Zimmer: "There's always something new to do, and I need a bigger building to display it all."