Host lede
In Lewiston, Idaho, one local man has been making pottery and sharing his skills for over 50 years. N-W-P-B’s Rachel Sun reports from Wendt [WHEN-t] Pottery.
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[Sound bed: Michael Wendt working and counting layers of clay]

WENDT: “Eight… Sixteen...”

I’m standing by a canvas-covered work table in a pottery shop in Lewiston, Idaho. Its owner, Michael Wendt, is showing me how he wedges clay.  

WENDT: “One hundred and twenty-eight.…”

“Wedging” is pottery-speak for mixing clay into a soft, even texture that’s needed to shape things like pots or cups on a wheel.

The wedging technique Wendt is showing me is called “stack and slam.” It works like this: A lump of clay is cut into two pieces with a wire. One piece is stacked on top of the other. Both are slammed down… 

[Nat pop: clay slamming]

…Which marries the two layers. Wendt rolls the clay toward himself, and slams it down once more for good measure. 

[Second nat pop]
WENDT: “Eight thousand…"

…And repeat. Each time he repeats the process, the number of layers doubles.

It’s a technique he introduced to the internet in 20-11. It might have been the first ever YouTube video to show the technique. It’s now one of the most popular wedging methods today.

WENDT: “Getting big, isn’t it?”
SUN: “It sure is.”
WENDT:  “256,000. 512,000, 1 million layers.”

Wendt has been making and teaching pottery for decades. It all started in 1973 when he broke a cream pitcher he was using for his coffee.

WENDT: “I was already working on taking coursework at the University of Idaho for- I was thinking about getting a master's, but then I changed subjects again when I took the pottery class. And it was funny because I never looked back.”

The business has done well over the years. Like a big boom in the 1980s, when Q-V-C — the home shopping channel — bought hundreds of wind chime bells. Wendt had glazed in ash from Mount St. Helens eruption. They sold out in minutes. 

WENDT: “ And if that wasn't enough, then they ordered another 400. And so, we were making them like crazy.”

Since then he’s expanded. He’ll sell clay to pottery supply companies … even cat litter to local pet owners, which he makes as a byproduct of the clay-bagging process. 

It’s probably safe to say Wendt doesn’t NEED the extra $10 to $25 bucks he charges for pottery-making classes in his studio. But Wendt says he likes teaching.

He moves over to his pottery wheel, where he demonstrates how to throw a bowl. He says he’ll need to take out some water from the bottom. He has a special tool for that.

WENDT: “ I have some of the finest tools known to mankind … You'll get a kick out of it when you see it. OK. So, this is one of the fine tools I use right here. Called a spoon.” 

Wendt loves teaching, but says ultimately, his students being the best at pottery isn’t really the most important thing to him.

WENDT: “I’m having fun because if I get to teach someone that, they can just have a fun, occasional hobby … I don't care if they become potters or not.””

He never seems to find the words to describe the exact addictive quality that’s kept him hooked on pottery for over half a century. But he knows he likes to share it.

Reporting in Lewiston, Idaho, I’m Rachel Sun.