After a couple days under plastic, the enclosed forms were stiffened up a bit…
but just enough to trim, stamp and squish. I hadn’t planned on working on them tonight.
But I checked the after class and realized that they were at the right stage of dryness.
I was a little afraid to leave them another day for fear they might dry too much.
If they get too dry, they don’t squish so much as crack when flattened.

So I trimmed some of the edges, then stamped the rim – and squished!
And now, it’s late, I’m tired… and these will have to wait for another day under plastic.
Next up – some slip decoration and a hole pierced through the back for hanging.
Then they’ll be ready for drying, bisque firing, glazing & firing again.

Tonight we kicked off the Summer Session of classes at Lillstreet Art Center.
Once again with a completely full class, I started with getting to know my students
and where they are in “their clay career.” This time, I have quite a few new beginners –
a lot of them with the “I did it once a LONG time ago and want to get back into
throwing.” Which might also translate into ‘there may be a lot of bad habits to fix’?!
Then we moved on to the basics of wedging, centering and throwing… assessing their
skill level at the same time. It was a very quick night – kicking off the 8-week session
of Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class.

It was a quiet morning along the lakefront.
With the sun rising slowly over the cloud mass on the horizon.

After a week of kid’s camp on the wheel, it felt great to get back behind my wheel
and actually make some new stuff in the studio… with my newly reclaimed clay!!!
Replenishing the supply just in time for the next art fair.

So I threw a series of enclosed forms – that will later be transformed into more
wall pocket vases. It felt great to be throwing again, and not having to stop
every 8-seconds to answer a kid’s question! Love ’em dearly, but seriously…

In the past, I’ve focused on some of My Talented Friends… other artists I admire.
This time, it’s one of the daughters of my longtime friends Kel & Kelly who is starring in
a local production of “Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” this weekend
down in Pontiac, Illinois with the Vermillion Players.

As one of the Narrators of the show, Kieran is on stage for a large portion of the show.
Traditionally, the role of the Narrator is performed by one actress… but this time around,
in an effort to get as many kids into the show as possible, they’ve split the role amongst
four girls. But of course, as the proud Uncle Gary, I do believe that Kieran stole the show
with her incredible voice and engaging stage presence. Watch for her… she’s going to be
a big star on Broadway some day soon!

And the talent doesn’t end with Kieran in the family… just off in the wings are Maddie
and Merryn who were also in the show. With a group of family & friends in the audience,
the three Krenz girls did a wonderful job and had an incredible evening. If you have a chance,
there are two more performances tonight & tomorrow night. Go, Go, Go Joe!!!

So the pile of “slop” reclaim is finally dried out enough and getting back to
a good clay consistency. So tonight I tackled the huge pile of reclaim.
It was a long night of wedging and incorporating the reclaim clay with some
new clay fresh from the box. Generally, when I’m bringing my “reclaim back to life”
I mix it with new clay so it’s not “just” used reclaim clay. I want to make sure that
there are plenty of small clay particles in the mixture – and not just my worn out reclaim.
So it was a LONG night of reconstituting my reclaim… mixing the reclaim with some
new soda clay and some new B Clay from Continental Clay.

Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Slice. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound. Cut. Layer. Pound.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Bag.

Not a glamorous night of clay. But in the end, I now have a lot of clay to use.
And I got a good upper body workout at the same time!

So this week at camp I got to “get back to basics” and the kids are playing in the mud!
Literally. It’s quite the challenge to start a week with a classroom full of kids all waiting
anxiously to start slingin’ the mud. With me there to show them how! After some initial
introductions, discussion of camp rules and overview of the class – we start with the basics.
Wedging, centering, opening, compressing, throwing, compressing, refining, lifting, etc.
Okay… so it wasn’t quite that easy. And there hasn’t been a whole lot of “refinement.”
But the kids are having fun and that’s really all that matters to me!

So tomorrow’s our last day of camp and we have a lot to finish up…

They kids threw pots with stoneware on Monday & Tuesday, trimmed on Wednesday,
and then switching to throwing with terra cotta today. If all goes as planned, tomorrow
we will finish up today’s terra cotta pots with trimming, attachments, decorations
and underglazing. They also need to glaze their bisqued stoneware pots that we rushed
through the drying (and I use that term loosely) process so the pots can be out of the kiln
and the kids can finish the process on Friday. Next week, when their pots come out of the
cone 10 glaze kiln, the kids will receive a postcard from Lillstreet to let them know
they can come back and claim their handmade treasures!

I just looked at my calendar… and realized that the
Evanston Lakeshore Fine Arts Festival is just one month from today!… and tomorrow!
Be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday, August 7th and Sunday, August 8th
for another wonderful weekend of art along the lakefront! I’ll be there…
in the same spot as always at the southeast end of the pond. Hope to see you there too!

In between spotting deer… and just south of the Botanic Gardens… Chris & I were
riding along, minding our own business, chatting it up, enjoying the gently rolling
& curving hills, pedaling at about 20 mph… when all of a sudden the bike path disappeared!!!

The trail and its markings just dead-ended in a huge tree! Yes, a huge tree had fallen right
across the path. Luckily we had time to hit the brakes and stop in time. We had just dodged
some large storm clouds that had sprung up in the area – helping to dissipate the 100-degree
temperatures. The humidity was incredible, and we could hear thunder all around us.
We got hit with a little drizzle – but from the looks of this VERY recently fallen tree, I think
we definitely missed the brunt of the sudden storm!

So?… when a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?! I think this one did.