Wyoming is well known for its Western flair, from the legendary King Saddlery to its motto, “The Cowboy State.” Influenced by the saddlemaker culture in her hometown of Sheridan, Wyo., Christy Rosalez, 27, founded Punchy Pottery, and the creator is both making a name for herself and also bringing pottery back as the craft to watch.
“In the leather world, it’s called a specialty pattern, when the leather work makes up an image,” Rosalez says. “I was inspired and came up with some of my own to use on pottery. I sat down, drew out an animal pattern, and there it was. All the swirls in the animal must be pushed perfectly, and I can sit there for two-plus hours and do it. I’ve become a machine.”
The time-intensive process of “throwing” pottery is not for the faint of heart, yet Rosalez is dedicated to her craft. And folks are taking notice. Growing from less than 1,000 followers on Instagram, she now has more than 36,000 on her page who await her end-of-the-month shop drops, where her pottery pieces, mugs, matchstick holders and more, sell out quickly.
A Knack for Art
Growing up in Sheridan, art is in the air. King Saddlery isn’t the only tourist hot spot; the town is home to the Rocky Mountain Leather and Trade Show. Western art is celebrated in many styles and forms. It’s easy to follow that influence into art, if you’re already leaning that way.
“I’ve always been interested in art and had a knack for it since I was a little girl,” says Rosalez. “In high school, ceramics was offered as a class. I signed up for every single class I could and fell in love with sculpture. I wanted nothing to do with the pottery wheel! Every time we had an assignment with the pottery wheel, my teacher, Mr. Hanchett, said to do a sculpture. He was really cool and helped me pursue my passion for ceramics.”
After graduation, she wanted to pursue art but knew that she needed additional education, so Rosalez acquired a job where she learned the production side of the business. She learned to fire a kiln—a thermally insulated chamber, like an oven, that can be heated to high temperatures for firing or drying materials, like pottery and ceramics.
“I took home clay to mess around,” she recalls. “I was working on sculptures, but my husband, Braxton, said we should get a [pottery] wheel. I didn’t love the wheel, but after talking it out with him, we decided that unless I was going to be a fancy sculptor that could sell [pieces] for thousands of dollars, it would be hard to make a living. He bought me a wheel off Amazon. We put it in our one-bedroom apartment and decided to see how it would go. I wound up throwing all these vases for my own wedding and really fell in love with the wheel. I totally changed perspective when I gave it a chance.”
That was four years ago. A few months later, Punchy Pottery was born. Though she had an Instagram account, the new business would need more than just that to sell. Rosalez set up her own Shopify account while also creating and improving her ceramic and pottery skills.
“After working in the ceramics industry and seeing how other artists were running their business, I thought it was smart to do ‘shop drops,’” Rosalez says. “I would work all month making pieces and then at the end of the month, I would upload them to my website. I keep my website locked until a certain time so everyone can have the same opportunity.”
The plan works well, as Rosalez focuses on creating for most of the month, aiming at making at least 50 pieces, then she can put her salesman hat on. It’s made for a successful venture.
Finding Her Style
Like all artists, Rosalez uses her surroundings to influence her work. Some of her best-selling pieces are straight from Wyoming’s Western heritage, including a cowboy hat matchstick holder and an intricate buffalo mug. Rosalez makes a variety of products, but mugs, smaller sipper cups, the cowboy hat matchstick holders and vases that look like the tops of cowboy boots are staples.
“I have always admired leatherwork,” she says. “It was something I was always interested in, but I didn’t know the first thing about leather tooling—I just admired all the details and designs. I didn’t know [leather], but I knew clay, and wondered if I could mix the two mediums together, and ended up falling in love with that style. I’ve come a long way in how I carve from my first pieces. I wouldn’t get quite the definition or design down I was hoping for, but spending time refining my carving skills has brought it full circle. Now, it looks like it was carved off a saddle.”
Rosalez spends nearly five-and-a-half hours on each mug. The animals she creates—buffalo, dogs, chickens, goats, and horses—look like they are patched onto the mug. The deep filigree-looking designs resemble the Sheridan flower carving often seen on saddles and headstalls. Her original love, ceramics, was still tugging at her heart, and that’s when Rosalez created the matchstick hats that sell for around $35.
“The other things I’ve created, like the cowboy hat match holders or the cowboy boots, fall back in line with my love for sculpture,” she says. “Even though I’m fulfilled by the intricate carvings and designs, I was missing the feeling of building out a piece. I throw the little cowboy hats on the wheel and then shape them individually to look like a hat, which is really fun.”
As Rosalez continues to evolve her craft, she offers new items monthly. As she headed into winter, she launched a hunting-based collection inspired by the wildlife around Sheridan, like elk and deer buck antler sheds. After that, she plans to make Christmas items. While her end-of-the-month shop drops are a solid plan to sell, for the holidays she is starting to take pre-orders.
“The best part of what I do is that it’s what I feel inspired to create,” says Rosalez. “I’m very lucky that it has a good response, or that people love what I love. It would be tough to make designs that didn’t hit with this crowd. I have creative freedom, but so far, it has all been really well received. It’s been a crazy blessing and a labor of love.”
◆ Check out the Punchy Pottery website
◆ Follow Punchy Pottery on Instagram
This article about Punchy Pottery appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of Western Life Today magazine. Click here to subscribe!
