Drawing inspiration from the outback's vibrant beauty

The backdrop of her family's outback station Pincally, north of Broken Hill, with its colourful hues that change with the season are all that Lucy needs when she creates.

As the colour of the outback turns from red dust to green so do the colours of her ceramic pieces.

"I have the perfect backyard for inspiration, I look outside at the colours and incorporate them into my pieces," Lucy said.

"If you look at flowers and trees, they are all uneven and delicate.

"So when I make ceramics most of the edges are thin and light similar to the petals of flowers.

"My works are organic shapes and every piece is completely different so no two are the same."

Two years ago Lucy graced the front page of The Land showcasing the home town pride of people and businesses who were showing ingenuity in uncertain times of a pandemic, weather and economic downturn.

But despite those obstacles, those like Lucy were helping showcase their regions by standing out from the rest to keep their community thriving.

At that stage, Lucy, a year-12 student, was growing her business while being home schooled during the lock-down.

Back then she had been making ceramics for three years having learned the craft at school.

While she was at home, she kicked off her business Little Ls Ceramics on Instagram where she was inundated with commission work as well as retail and supplying bed and breakfast accommodation with her unique designs.

However, she needed her own kiln on station to keep her ceramic dream alive.

Fast forward to today, Lucy now has a kiln and has launched her own website.

But it wasn't an easy road.

Once Lucy finished school, she worked in several contracting jobs in the rugged terrain she calls home to save money for the kiln.

She has done everything from mustering to contract fencing, lamb marking and cattle work.

As Lucy worked, she researched businesses across the country to find the right kiln for her ceramics.

And it was in Adelaide when she came across a company who sourced kilns from Canada, a far cry from her remote corner of the state.

"At the time they didn't have anything in stock so I put my name on a waiting list and it took five months before it arrived and I could get it home," Lucy said.

It arrived three months ago, and, ever since then she has been hard at work using the landscape around her as inspiration.

"The first time a piece came out there was nothing wrong, I was so excited as I had borrowed a kiln and all my stuff kept exploding," she said.

Since she launched the website two months ago, Lucy has been taking more commission and wholesale orders, with plans to stock in boutiques and galleries in the new year.

They want everything from coffee mugs, plates, bowls to platters and even light sculptures.

But it's not a matter of just popping down the road to the local post office to send her wares as Lucy's is a 270 kilometres drive down the Silver City Highway to Broken Hill.

"Once I get an order, I create for the day, then it has to dry out before it goes into the kiln," she said.

"That takes 14 hours, then I have to glaze and it goes back into the kiln and that takes another 14 hours."

Using the kiln in the outback can be particularly challenging especially when you get a run of 40 degree C days in summer.

"The kiln is in the shearing shed so it can get hot," she said.

"We had 48C at home the other day and the kiln took double the time to cool down.

"So you need to get that right balance, if you open the kiln too early the glaze might run off or the clay might collapse."

Once the work is complete, she packages them up using recycled boxes from businesses in Broken Hill. But if it's a local delivery that might mean dropping it into the neighbour's fridge postbox.

She has since moved to Robe, SA, for a few months where she plans to open up a pop-up shop and start doing clay and sips, with a focus on expanding the business to wholesalers.

"This started by giving gifts to people who loved them as much as I did, then because people loved them so much I started to see a future in making ceramics full-time," Lucy said.