Customers navigating to Robbie Bell's home pottery studio in Fort Lauderdale need only look for the black-and-white speckled cocker spaniels lolling in the driveway to know they have arrived.

Sara and Kate inspired the studio name, Speckled Dog Pottery, and they greet visitors with tail-wagging enthusiasm and protective yapping.

Inside the garage, Bell is working ''like a dog'' to produce a batch of small bud vases for a woman who will give them to 70 friends for Christmas.

''Every January she calls and we decide what I will make for the coming year,'' Bell says. ``Last year it was one-pound bowls.''

While Bell gladly takes special orders and offers an array of vases, platters, bowls and tiles, he specializes in personal teapots holding 14 ounces or less. Inside his showroom of finished pieces, small teapots of various shapes and colors glow under the spotlights.

''They each have their own personality,'' Bell says.

''The Fruits,'' a vibrant Key lime and a muted Valencia orange, are smooth and round. ''The Wedding Cakes'' in blue chiffon, black-and-white or red velvet, have a layered look. ''The Fat Lady Sings'' series offers a whimsical bent, while ''The Turtles'' of the gopher and sea variety bring an animalistic charm to the bunch.

Bell typically fabricates the teapot handles from pine needles, basket reeds or jeweler's copper. Prices range from $150 to $225.

Though he does not routinely test the pots for brewing, Bell will do so on request, as he likes to think of his pieces as functional art.

''I want to see them displayed in the dishwasher as well,'' he says.

Bell designed a blue-and-white pot to hold one customer's prized 120-year-old balsamic vinegar. Another fellow wanted a special pot to hold his favorite olive oil.

The marriage of food and pottery comes naturally to Bell, a part-time caterer, occasional church organist and choirmaster, and former bed-and-breakfast owner. He enjoys making platters and trays that complement his food creations.

''Can't you just see an arranged salad in that?'' he asks, pointing to a large cobalt blue bowl with wiggly handles.

Bell's own pottery collection began about 30 years ago when he was a minister at a church in Asheville, N.C., a haven for descendants of the famed Brown's Pottery family.

''I was always marrying, baptizing or burying someone, so someone was always giving me dinnerware to show their appreciation,'' Bell says.

Six years ago Bell decided to try his hand at pottery making, starting first in a Hallandale Beach studio, then enrolling in North Carolina's Penland School of Crafts and studying under noted potter Fong Choo.

Now with a steady following of his own, Bell conducts a poolside pottery show and sale at his home the first Saturday in December.

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