Another version of my blue mini-tile quilts.
Kinda diggin’ the juxtaposition of the colors & angles.
We’ll see how they turn out after glazing!

Looks like metalsmith Sarah Chapman is first to dive into her shadowboxes! Known more for making fantastic, wearable jewelry, it will be fun to see Sarah work on a bit larger scale to “fill” the frame. Looks like she’s off to a good start… with a great hint as to the collaboration theme we’re all working with!!! HA!!!

Be sure to check out Sarah’s amazing work – www.chapmanmetals.com

Christmas may be over… but Winter goes on forever! And here’s a cute little snippet of holly & berries from the bush in my front porch. A cutie-patootie vase with a little Winter freshness.

Inside the “care-package” were shadowbox picture frames for our upcoming “4×4 : FOUR MAKERS” pop-up show in a little over a week! These beautiful frames were HANDMADE by one of our four artists… Meghann Sottile! Such beautiful design & craftsmanship… with some crazy-cool corner joinery going on! So now each of the four artists needs to put something equally cool inside… worthy of these beautiful frames… that goes along with our thematic collaboration project. “4×4″… four artists, four frames each… sixteen in the collaboration!

Coming soon to Space 900 Gallery in Evanston – 816 Dempster, Evanston, Illinois
Friday, February 28. Saturday, March 1. Sunday, March 2

Don’t you love when you get a care-package from a talented artist friend?… packed up with anticipation inside!!! Can’t wait to show you what was inside!!!

Textured tiles… mini tiles kinda creating a “quilt” of sorts. Each individual tile is less than an inch square. Thanks to MKM Pottery Tools for cool handrollers that made most of these textures!

Celebrating a little TILE TUESDAY… with a photo of an installation on my back porch. All of the tiles were handmade… and now each tile hangs on a single nail. So they wiggle & swing when you swipe your hands across it.

More sunlight streaming through… creating cool angles & shadows on an upcoming “4×4 : FOUR MAKERS” pop-up collaboration project.

It might be freezing cold outside, but the sun streaming in through my dining room window this morning is giving me just a little of that tropical feeling. Wishful thinking…

There was a LOT of trimming that went on yesterday… so I had a lot of clay scraps everywhere. Perfect chance to “pulverize” my bone dry scraps before adding them to my reclaim bucket. The finer the bits, the smoother the reclaim!

And yes, bone dry clay is important for easier reclaiming of clay. I get frustrated all the time when I see students just tossing lumps of clay into a bucket filled with water… and then expecting it to do something magical to become reclaim?! Word to the wise… a wet lump of clay won’t get “wetter” in a bucket of water… it will still be a lump.