Travis Shope's first spin on the pottery wheel was not smooth.

"I don't even know you can call it anything," Shope said of the final product. "It's just a small piece of clay with a hole in the middle."

Finally, Shope made a set of plates. They are lumpy and not stacked cleanly, but this is the beginning.

"I remember eating them and thinking,'I can do something here,'" he said. "'I can actually sell these things.'"

It was 2012, and in the nine years since then, Shope proved right. As a third-generation member of a decades-old family business, the West Point resident devoted himself to pottery full-time, selling bowls, plates, etc. to the Commodore Bob's Yacht Club in Starkville and online.

"My business is built around plates, and I try to make the highest quality tableware and try to bring it into the homes of as many people as possible," Shope said.

Shope has its own space in Mar-Lyn Ceramic Supply, Inc., located on Main Street in West Point, owned and operated by his parents David and Lynne Shope. This shop sells kilns, pottery wheels, clay, mud-liquid clay that can be poured into molds-etc.

Mar-Lyn is named after Lynn and her mother Martha. Martha is Travis’ grandmother. They bought the old Coca-Cola bottling plant in 1976 because they opened this store from the back porch in 1971. Need more space. Since then, this family has owned it.

"This is a very old building," Shope said. "You can say it has been around for a long time, so it's cool to still be there."

This shop welcomes tourists from all over the country, and Shope is happy to be one of them.

"There must be people coming in from all over," he said. "It's kind of crazy to hear about it-it's at West Point Military Academy, and it's weird they came there."

After retiring from the United States Department of Agriculture, Shope's grandmother joined her husband, Emmett, and in 1998, the couple withdrew from the ceramics industry. David retired from his accounting career and began to help Lynn run the store.

Shope didn't have much interest in making ceramics when he grew up. He studied at Mississippi State University and studied finance. But when he dropped out of school and started working part-time in his parents' store, he was ready to give it a try.

"One day, I thought,'You know, I might try it,'" he said. "If nothing happens, just to let myself know what I'm talking about whenever I load clay on people's cars."

Shope said that he was very interested in making plates and cutlery from the beginning, which requires time and effort.

"I want to make functional things that you can use, not just things on shelves," he said.

From the beginning, Shopes used Travis plates, but they were not perfect.

"Slowly, over time, it becomes more brittle," he said.

Now, his craftsmanship is almost flawless. The finished products on Shope's Instagram account-bowls, plates, cups, etc.-barely reveal that he was not a skilled potter from the beginning. In the "Shope Pottery" Etsy store he runs, there are more-utensil holders, ashtrays and spoon holders, all of which have a smooth glaze.

impressive. But Shope insists that he only has more to learn.

"I won't say that I have mastered it," he said.

Theo DeRosa reports Mississippi sporting events for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @Theo_DeRosa.

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