VIENNA — For more than 30 years, Vienna artisans Mark and Hillary Hutton have been dedicated to perfecting their work.

Hillary does hand-weaving of custom rag rugs, tunics and baby blankets, while Mark creates wheel-thrown stoneware and porcelain. The couple, who are members of the Maine Crafts Guild, showed their work during a recent interview and talked about the process they use to create their respective items.

“I went to the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and got a design degree there,” Hillary said.

She has had her hand-weaving business since 1981.

Hillary showed the strips of cotton cloth that she buys at Jo-Ann Fabric, or from Craigslist. The fabric is washed in order to shrink it, and then Hillary cuts the pieces into one-inch strips.

“Everything is planned out,” Hillary said.

She works with customers to come up with a design they want for a custom rug, which takes eight to 10 weeks to put together.

“There’s a design process where we work together,” she said.

The looms she uses are set up for different sizes of rugs. Customers can special order a size of rug they’d like to have.

Hillary showed a rug done in pieces, with narrower panels sewn together. She said when she displays her work at craft shows, she has a rug of this type that she uses as an example.

All of the rugs are made of cotton and cotton-blend fabrics. All are washable; the smaller rugs can be washed in a machine and the larger ones should be washed by hand or professionally. They can also be vacuumed using a floor brush.

Mark began working with clay in 1981, started with high-fired porcelain and stoneware in 1988 and is “mostly self-taught.” He said that when he was starting out, he took a course at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle.

“Aside from that, it was just reading books and talking with people who did it until it sunk in,” he said.

Mark said most of his work, with the exception of slab items, is thrown on a wheel.

“You don’t want it to dry too fast or too slow,” he said.

For that reason, the studio windows are kept closed.

“I’ll let them dry carefully and evenly,” Mark said.

He shows an unplugged refrigerator that is used as a storage place for pottery once he is done creating the pieces on the wheel.

“Once they’re inside there, they sort of sit in this damp environment until I’m finished trimming them,” he said.

Mark uses cutting tools to trim the bases and puts handles on the pottery. Once the pieces are completely dry, they go into a 50-cubic-foot propane kiln with 35 cubic feet of usable space and are bisque fired. Because they aren’t glazed yet, the pieces can be piled on top of each other.

They are fired at 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit and come out porous. Then they get glazed.

“Of all the jobs, mixing the glaze is the most drudgery,” Mark said.

He shows a notebook with a list of the ingredients and percentages of each, and the size of the batches.

There was a lot of trial and error involved when he started out to get the glaze the right color and consistency.

“I didn’t have a glaze I liked for 10 years,” Mark said. “It’s not just colors. Sometimes, there will be blisters or they get runny.”

Once a piece is glazed, it goes into a high fire, where it can’t touch other pieces. The pottery is fired at 2,350 degrees Fahrenheit for 11 to 12 hours.

“You want it to be vitreous, meaning nonporous,” Mark said.

He makes a variety of teapots, bowls, pitchers, mugs and cups, vases, jars and lamps.

Thanks to their membership in the Maine Crafts Guild, the Huttons are able to show their work at shows throughout the region and have the guild promote it in its publications and on its website.

“For me, it’s an outlet to sell, and I’ve made a lot of friends,” Mark said. “The community is definitely part of it.”

Hillary said the guild “kind of discovered me. They’re always looking for new members.”

The guild averages 100 members, and it has a strict jury, meaning only the most profoundly dedicated artisans and craftspersons are members.

“It helps promote and sell,” Hillary said. “It’s a volunteer organization. We’ve all done something at some point. It’s a good family kind of group.”

For more information about the Maine Crafts Guild, go to mainecraftsguild.com. To find out more about Mark and Hillary Hutton’s work, visit their website at www.huttonstudios.com.

The Hutton’s craft show schedule is as follows:

July 24-26: Maine Crafts Guild, Directions at MDI, Mount Desert High School

Aug. 1-9: Sunapee, N.H., League of Craftsmen, Mount Sunapee, Sunapee, N.H., Tent 3

Aug. 13-15: Neighborhood House Arts & Crafts, Northeast Harbor

Aug. 22 and 23: Samoset Fine Crafts Show, Samoset Resort, Rockland

Sept. 19 and 20: Maine Crafts Guild, Scarborough Show, Camp Ketcha, Scarborough (H)

Sept. 25-27: Common Ground Country Fair, MOFGA Fairgrounds, Unity

Oct. 17 and 18: Roseland Cottage Fine Arts Fair, Route 169, Woodstock, Conn. 

Nov. 27-29: Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore St., Worcester, Mass.

Dec. 3-5: Evergreen Fair, University of New Hampshire Memorial Union Building, Durham, N.H.

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