Ted has worked at L&R for a total of almost eight years.  His adventure with clay began in 1996 when as a Creative Writing major at MSU, he took two electives that altered his direction.  They were Ceramics 101 and Tribal Art History.  He started at L&R at the end of that semester.  Since that time, he has mixed over seven million pounds of clay, mixed and tested thousands of glazes, apprenticed for a year and a half with architectural ceramic sculptor, Wolfgang Vaatz, and has managed to make a few drums and fountains in the process.  Although Ted may never be considered a "master potter," or even wants to be, he has achieved legendary "Claydog" status which, as everyone knows, scores way more points with the ladies.

For the drums and fountains, Ted slab builds them using L&R's A-1 Sculpture Body.  He also uses heavily grogged, colored slips and various tools of questionable legality to texture and shape his pieces.  After bisque firing, he uses a soda ash and copper wash fired to cone 6 in an electric kiln to deepen and enhance the colors of the textured clay.  Ted works in his studio at home located in the backlands outside of Marshfield, MO, where the neighbors often complain about late night drumming and howling.  He can be reached most days at L&R.  Other days, there is just no reaching him.