Welcome
Marcher Ware
Pour Horse Pottery
Alchemy Studio
~ Sculpting Artists ~
Lirico 2003
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Below are a few frequently asked questions, and
their general answers. Please remember that some answers are unknowable,
and others are only slightly understandable. If you don't see your question
here, it is because no one else has thought to ask it. That being the case,
you might want to rethink your question. Perhaps you already know the answer,
and are simply looking for validation? Perhaps your question is simplistic,
and everyone else can answer it even before their morning tea? Have
you been sleeping well, lately? Have you considered a tinfoil hat to cut
down on the cosmic noise?
1. Is Marcher Ware spelled Marcherware or Marcher Ware?
Please see home page. Please note the big brown "M" which begins Marcher, and the big brown "W" which begins Ware. Tara took a lot of time coloring those in, and she only does that when something is relevant.
2. Does bone china really have animal bone in it? And can you catch a disease from it?
Yes, bone china really has animal bone in it. Quite a bit, in fact. Apparently bone can be made artificially as well, but who would bother when all those bones are lying around? And I don't know about you, but I do love a nice roast on Sunday. Juicy and rare, with lots of horseradish sauce. Roasted potatoes, and caramelized onions. Did you know that the human race was able to grow bigger brains when they figured out how to add meat to their diet?
As for diseases, well, no. You can't catch anything from fired bone china. Except perhaps a little grief when your spouse finds the credit card bill. So hide it. Or make a paper airplane with it. Or use it to suddenly indulge a whim by doodling all over it, making funny faces right over the numbers. Who can be angry at a group of smiley faces?
3. Can I buy a Marcher Ware horse right away?
Well, probably not. Not from the factory, anyway. We only sell to our customer list, and they buy up all the horses immediately. Sometimes you can try to buy a custom one (if you don't know what that means, see below) if you see the email announcement, but you'll be (electronically) standing in line in the hot sun for hours, hoping to spin the wheel (again, electronically, this is a metaphor after all) and have your number come up. Or you can bid in an auction, if you like. But the factory doesn't have them just sitting around waiting to be sold. No, sorry. Your mental image of a big warehouse full of pristine white boxes, cataloged and numbered, waiting for shipment, is way off base. Substitute a picture of a messy, crowded dining room with Styrofoam peanuts strewn across the floor, and a tape dispenser that got set down on the carpet and attracted dog hair from a three foot area. I'm sorry if my reality is not in synch with your fantasy, but it's your fantasy that needs reconsidering.
4. What is "OF" and "Custom"?
These are words that the model horse collectors use to define the finish on a horse. The definition is getting creaky, and leaking a little, like an old Cris Craft. But since we are great believers in Tradition, we're going to stick with them, until we are dragged kicking and screaming into the modern equivalent. Or not. Anyway, "OF" stands for Original Finish, as in "the finish that the factory put on the horse and sold, just like countless others of its kind, in a sort of anonymous orgy of horse sculpture detailing". Which works well for big companies that hire workers to sit and paint leg chestnuts all day, with a little time off for lunch. But it doesn't really work for a one-person, highly engaged, and artistically motivated company like the one that paints Marcher Ware pieces. So the way we use it, "OF" means "the color that looks like at least forty-nine others, taking into account variations that come into play when a mere human tries to duplicate things like that day after day, week after week, until all Life seems meaningless". Therefore, obviously "Custom" means "a color that is either unique, or only has a few siblings, making it interesting and rare, and with more difficult techniques that cannot be replicated fifty times, except perhaps by monks because they are notorious for having a lot of patience and time on their hands." If you are totally lost now, maybe it doesn't really matter anyway. Or you could consider this simple fact: OFs are cheaper.
5. How many horses does Marcher Ware produce in a year?
Why are you so concerned with these artificial references to the Cosmic movement of Time? Poets are so much more loose with their definitions. So are children. This year, next year, what does it matter? The movement of the heavens, the slow crush of tectonic plates, the imperceptible growth of trees. Loosen up.
6. Is there more than a little satire on this website?
Ah! You must have eaten meat today!