Disillusioned with farming, and having found clay on their property, they spent the year beginning in May 1933 in Europe, where Kjeld studied pottery and Erica weaving.
[4] They divided the labour between them, with Kjeld using a potter's wheel to throw the pots and operating the kiln, while Erica developed and mixed the glazes, painted the pottery and decorative tiles, and sculpted fanciful animal figurines which she called "goofi".
[3] The Deichmanns became part of a circle of artists and poets, including Miller Brittain, Jack Humphrey, Louis Muhlstock, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, P. K. Page, and Kay Smith, who visited them at Dykelands.
[2]: 192 Early and influential patrons were the historian John Clarence Webster and his wife, who purchased Deichmann works for their personal collection and for the New Brunswick Museum.
Local people and tourists also visited the studio in increasing numbers, purchasing work directly from the Deichmanns and providing "a major source of income".
[1]: 14 The rural and picturesque lifestyle of the Deichmanns and their three children attracted media attention and they appeared in "countless articles featuring photography by Yousuf Karsh and Richard Harrington".
[1]: 66 In 1940, representing the province of New Brunswick, they exhibited their work and gave live demonstrations of pottery making at the Montreal Arts and Crafts fair on Saint Helen's Island.