About The Studio

Hi, My name is Brian Bullock and I co-own Bullock's Pottery Studio, located in sunny central California. Like many California kids in the early 70s I took a few years of ceramics in high school (The teacher was great, kinda happened to not be looking if I slipped a small pipe in the kiln when I was helping him load it). I really enjoyed it but didn't have access to a kiln after graduation so that was that. And of course about that time life got up in my face... wife, kids, job, yada, yada.... really enjoy the first two, need the third to pay for it all, and time goes reeeal fast.

Now its 30 years later, the kids are testing their limits in the big city, and my lovely wife Theresa and I have a little more time and money. So a few years ago we decided to take a pottery class from a long-time potter/artist in our area.    I loved it, she hated it... but she's very understanding about my after-work activities (I also do some wood carving & scroll saw fret work) so I continued the classes. In fact I loved it so much that I quickly picked up a used kiln and a new pottery wheel and set up camp in the garage.

That was cool for a while, I had fun making stuff for family and friends. Just the usual cups, bowls, platters, vases, bottles, etc. but it let me learn about my craft and practice new skills. You wouldn't believe the kick I get out of experimenting with a new glaze. Weighing out and mixing together the various flavors of ground-up rock (minerals). Its like that chemistry-set-in-a-cardboard-box I had when I was 10 only this makes really neat stuff that lasts a real long time (I proudly display my first “I Dream Of Jeannie” bottle).   But family and friends will take only so much, my living room and kitchen were running out of room and, since I wasn't about to quit just as I was really starting to know what I was doing, I needed to rethink where I wanted to go with my pottery.

Frankly, I was getting a little tired of dinnerware. After all a bowl can only be a limited number of shapes and still be usable. But I do like making things that I can imagine people using in their daily lives, 100 years from now. So I mentally reviewed all the stuff I've made and discovered that I most enjoyed making pipes back in high school. Of course those were dinky little things, about the size of your thumb , because I had to hide them inside something else (the teacher wasn't THAT blind) but that was no longer a concern. Making pipes lets me create something thats both useful and beautiful. Pocket pipes, tube style waterpipes and non-waterpipe table pipes are a little limited in size because you need to be able to comfortably hold them in your hand but table style waterpipes can be any size or shape.   Ok, I knew what I wanted to make but I needed to get serious about passing on the fruits of my labors, family and friends just wouldn't cut it.

In early 2007 Theresa and I agreed to start a pottery studio business. She would handle the stuff where you didn't have to get muddy and I got to create to my hearts content... as long as we could make it pay for itself within a reasonable amount of time (and, of course, I couldn't quit my day job until I could replace the income... Darn!). So we bought a 16ft by 20ft Tuff Shed and outfitted it with the basic tools. We made our first two sales to local smoke shops by the middle of that year and are still “lovin' every minute of it”.

We decided to start out by limiting our customer base to smoking accessory retailers in our general area for a few reasons;

• There are a lot of smoke shops in our area (hey, its California).
• It lets us learn our new business by dealing with fellow professionals in the same field.
• I get to spend more time making rather than selling and shipping (its a hard-earned skill getting a large waterpipe ready for a road trip with UPS or USPS).

Well, enough with the rambling. Go ahead and take a look at the pipes and if you see anything interesting then use the Contact The Studio form. We'll set up a time for you to check out the pipes at your store.