With another storm front rolling through Chicago overnight…
it was still a little windy & blustery this morning with winds coming in from the West.
which also means that it “felt” like a headwind both coming AND going!!

Uh oh… it’s just one week until Tax Day!!!
Guess I better start thinking about getting stated on them, huh?!

With all of my new bisque work unloaded, it’s time to start the glazing process
for my next soda kiln. Luckily, for my soda pieces, I don’t need to glaze a lot.
I typically inlay glaze into the stamps, and then do a quick liner glaze… and that’s it.
So, here it is… I’ve started the glaze inlay process…

But there’s still a long ways to go…

You know I can’t stand when things get thrown away when they can still be used.
The same holds true for flowers. And I collected a whole lot of roses today from a dumpster!
They came back from a special event and still have some life left in them!

So I brought the white spray roses into the studio, filled a few vases & tumblers…
sort of fulfilling the destiny of every good vase by putting flowers in it as intended!
I still had lots to share with my studio neighbors Karen & Lisa! They weren’t there,
so it should be a good surprise when they find them tomorrow!

Look at these… they’re simply adorable! And I can’t wait to use them.

I decided that I needed some new stamps…
especially if I was going to be making more Christmas ornaments & miniature vases.
You know smaller pieces need smaller stamps, right? At least in my world.
And these are the smallest ones I’ve made so far!

No sunrise today.
Just dark skies, bare trees and clouds lingering over the lake.
It still felt great to get out there and pedal to help clear my head…
even if it never cleared the skies!

Tonight at Lillstreet, we had a brief slide presentation by Canadian potter Aaron Nelson.
Aaron used to be a studio member at the old Lillstreet location, and taught classes…
a couple of which I had the opportunity to participate in. Aaron has always had a very unique
view on things, a sense of wonder and a beautiful aesthetic. His classes were always fun…
and I could just listen to his accent for hours. Especially when we were talking about teapots…
with a lot of “aboouuts” and the “spoouut” that went on “agane” and “agane.” Too funny.

Well, Aaron has been gone for many years, but was passing through Chicago and stopped by
for a visit. He has traveled around, gotten married and started a family since leaving Chicago.
He’s worked at the Archie Bray Foundation and eaten a lot of doughnuts. But I digress…
He even spent 8-weeks in his handmade kayak paddling along the west coast of Canada.
I’m so jealous!!! Now he has landed in Alberta, Canada at a wonderful clay facility called
Medalta. Apparently, Medalta was once home to some of Canada’s most important pottery,
china and clay factories. These days, the history is being preserved with the unique
Medalta Potteries National Historic Site. Not only was Aaron there to entertain and share
his passion for clay, but also to hype the wonderful clay opportunities they host there
for workshops & residencies.

He also told us some of the things he’s been working on. Including some crazy clay recipe
“mistake” that he’s now trying to refine that has a MUCH lower melting point, but is incredibly
translucent as it seems closer to glass than clay when it is finally fired. Plus, some wacky
concept of hooking up a bicycle to a generator to somehow work together to fire a kiln?!
I’m in!!! Doubt it…. but Love it anyway.

When I got home, it was late dinner time… so I had to pull out some of his dinnerware!
I’ve had it for years. A wonderful set of wheelthrown dinner & dessert plates in two-tone
stripes! I’ve served many a pizza on these plates. And an occasional cheesecake on the
dessert plates!!! Beautiful plates always make the food taste better. Don’tcha think?

Not only do I have dinnerware…
but one of Aaron’s mugs has a permanent spot in my mug collection! It was great to see
Aaron “agane”… to hear his stories, mock his accent and be inspired by his words.

Yes, Karen Patinkin came through…
and topped off the remaining space in my bisque kiln.
I feel much better knowing that all the extra space was being used! Whew…

As I was loading the kiln, I was carefully stacking bowls…
and began to notice how cool they started looking with the rhythmic repetition
of the curved & fluted rims, the details of the stamped details and the great shadows that
helped define the textures. I may have to consider this… and make some new nesting bowls?!

After weeks of working in the studio, it was finally time to load a bisque kiln.
It’s always tough to determine how much will fit in the kiln. How many will stack?
How much will nest inside another. What will squeeze onto each layer? And so,
tonight I tackled the three-dimensional puzzle of stacking the kiln effectively.
You now how I hate to leave unused kiln space!!! It drives me crazy…

Layer One: flower pots, mini vases & more ornaments!

Layer Two: bowls, utensil crocks, mini vases & tripods!

Layer Three: bowls, berry bowls, utensil crocks and more tripods!

Layer Four: berry bowls, bowls… and some last minute stamps I made tonight!

And sadly, I didn’t do so good estimating this time. And there’s a little space left open
on the top layer of this kiln. I left a phone message with my potter friend Karen Patinkin
to see if she wanted to fill it in. The kiln turns on tomorrow morning… still waiting…