running reynella pottery single-handed proved difficult, and sometime after 1920, reynell hired george samuel osborne, an ex-serviceman and gardener, as her assistant. they developed a close relationship and eventually decided to marry. since osborne's family had worked as servants for the reynells (and possibly also because osborne was ten years reynell's junior), her rather snobbish family disapproved of the match. nonetheless, reynell and osborne were married at st mary’s church, edwardstown, in 1922 and then moved to ballarat in victoria state, where they started osrey pottery. the firm's name was an amalgam of their surnames. their products were very popular and were sold in melbourne through the primrose pottery shop and also at street fairs, where reynell would sometimes draw attention by throwing pottery on the spot. they were forced to close the pottery business in 1926 after osborne contracted lead poisoning from the lead in the glazes, and this catastrophe drove them into poverty.