Written by Joshua Thomas Schroeder
I’ve had the pleasure of working in and visiting some awesome studios, and I think it’s because of this that I had a very particular vision in my head of what my studio would be one day. It would be a large open space, maybe a lofted barn behind my one-day home, with lots of light, and naturally all the best equipment – a large electric kiln, tubs of glazes, plenty of shelving for my work; to this day it’s a vision that makes me smile.
The problem was, I had it in my head that pottery wouldn’t be a part of my life until I could afford that dream. I have a job that I love, and my plan was to work hard at that so I could afford that dream “one day.”
Luckily for me, my wife isn’t one for putting off dreams. Despite my protests, she started researching other potters in the area. I dismissed suggestions to throw at local public studios, and generally paid her no mind until she found a local potter by the name of Mitch Sigmund. Mitch and I hit it off, realizing we had both began our ceramics journeys with the same high school teacher some years apart, and, long story short, I learned a lot from Mitch about having an in-home studio, production throwing, and essentially, how to be a professional artist.
Thanks to Mitch, my wife, and a lot of encouragement from my family and friends, my viewpoint on the right time to start my studio began to shift.
I had sort of inherited a small kiln previously, and with Mitch’s help, was able to set it up in my garage. I saved up to purchase my first wheel, and things really began to roll from there.
My first big challenge came with coming up with a name. Of course it had to be not only one that I loved, but one that wasn’t taken and would break through the static on search engines.
I got the name Iron Hill Studios from two different ideas. The first being that iron is
a very common mineral used in both clays and glazes and it is pulled from the
ground. The second comes from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The Iron Hills are a range of mountains rich with precious gems and iron in the north east of Middle Earth where a kingdom of Dwarves live.
The name was strong, simple, and thankfully, wasn’t taken.
From there, I was able to form an LLC, establish a tax ID, a bank account, and all of the fun things that come with starting a business. A good amount of research went into everything, but I couldn’t help but be excited at how real everything was finally becoming.
I know a lot of other work went into the Facebook page, this website, and still, a new Pinterest account, Youtube Channel, and who knows what else, but I’ll admit that these are my wife’s bread and butter. I have been working on experimenting with new forms, and most recently, my glazes which finally came in! More fun ahead, stay tuned.
Iron Hill Studios 