Two weeks from today.
Two more weeks of training.
The Chicago Triathlon.
My first ever!

And I will once again be teaching the Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing
class on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm. Whether you’ve thrown on the wheel
before, or you’ve never touched clay, this is the class for you. You’ll be surprised at
how quickly you’ll be making handmade pottery… with ten-weeks to “perfect” your skills.
Plus, this session will take you right up to the holiday season. An ideal chance to start
making your own handmade gifts for the holidays!

The new 10-week Fall Session will begin on Tuesday, September 13th.
But sign-up today to guarantee yourself a seat in my class… it usually fills up fast!!!
Stop by or call Lillstreet… or register online at www.lillstreet.com.
Plus, sign-up before August 29 and receive $20 off your class enrollment!

After camp this afternoon, I spent a few more hours in the studio trying to put
everything back together after my shelving disaster from a few weeks back.
As you know, I had an “incident” in my studio where the shelves literally pulled out
from the wall and came crashing down. I have since replaced the shelves with pegboard…
my favorite!!! So now I have a LOT of pegboard to play with. And I’ve been filling it in
pretty darn quickly. I love pegboard. And one of the best parts is that it can be changed
& modified as needed. Need a tool closer within reach?… just move the peg!!!

Now I just need to get back to work and make something… and dirty that table!!!

So there it is… another week of camp done. Check… and check mate!
And the kids were all working feverishly to finish their sets by the end of camp!
Plus, I brought in some music “to calm the savage beasts” and give us all a little
more vocal entertainment throughout the day. Especially Andrew who not only sang
along with a lot of the songs… but also decided to “bust a move” frequently too!

So they tackled the day head-on with a lot of work on the docket. They had pretty much
finished building all of their pieces. A few more here & there, but generally finished.
We pulled out the underglazes and they started painting… all the while being very careful
not to break of their fragile greenware pieces. Okay… so we had a couple mishaps,
but nothing that couldn’t be rebuilt in our spare time.

So they kept painting their pieces with colorful underglazes all day. Which really brings
them all to life. It’s always so much fun to see their “vision” come together!

By the end of camp today, every camper had completed their entire Chess Set.
They were very excited, as was I… always so impressive that they can finish a project
this large in just five days! Plus, we finished with time to spare… so we all shared in a
huge ice cream social with potluck toppings brought in by the kids! I always love filling
the kids with sugar at the end of the day and sending them home all jacked-up
to Mom & Dad!!!

Thank you again to all of my campers for making this another successful week.
They were all so energetic & entertaining. I laughed with them all week long.

So one of my kids has been entertaining me all week long.
Not only is his chess set coming together quite nicely…
And not only has he persuaded me to download the app “Plants vs. Aliens”…
But he has also been serenading the class all week long! Which is not only incredibly
entertaining… Andrew actually has a really good voice too! So it’s been a LOT of fun!!!
And you can check him out on his very own YouTube video!!!

The film quality is not all that great, and the beginning is a little shaky. But make sure
you wait until the chorus of the song really kicks in… Andrew’s got a great voice for a
13 year old!!! Watch the video, give it a “LIKE” rating if you can… and I’m sure he’d
love to get some good Comments too!!! Click on the link below…

Andrew Johnson on “YouTube”

So the kids have been very focused this week…
with their themes in place and the terra cotta quickly forming into chess pieces!
It’s been an assembly line of pawns, and then a lot of scoring & slipping along the way!
Some of the themes this time around include…
* Land Animals vs. Water Animals
* Plants vs. Zombies… apparently a hugely popular app with the kids?!
* Health Food vs. Junk Food… matching chess sets by my two overachievers!
* Star Wars
* Soda Pop vs. Fruit Juices
* Plates vs. Bowls… which I don’t really get, but he’s VERY into it?!!!
* Forks vs. Spoons… again, what’s with the utensils???
* Tofu vs. Meat

Too bad that not all of my overachieving kids “understood” that the slip should go on their
pieces, not their hands! At least they’re following my #1 Summer Camp Rule… Have Fun!

Along the way, in between making their pieces, the kids also started to paint their
chess boards today. With colors & thematic elements to coordinate with their chess sets.

After lunch, the kids who have finished making all of their pieces started painting their
chess pieces with colorful underglazes. This is always fun because it’s when all of their
hard work really comes to life! And the chess piece personalities really begin to pop!

And with kids this adorable… how could you NOT love Summer Camp?!!! They have been
too funny! Great attitudes, funny stories, good karaoke, bad jokes… all WONDERFUL FUN!!!

Another beautiful morning along Lake Michigan… so serene… so quiet…

So last night, a former student of my wheelthrowing class stopped by again
with special homemade treats! This time, it was homemade ice creams with some
wacky flavors! Every time Cam makes treats to share, they seem to have unusual
ingredients you wouldn’t expect to taste in the same place. But somehow they always
seem to work. I guess that’s what makes him a chef… and not me?!

So one of them was made with blackberries, goat cheese and sage.
It was quite different because it was more savory than sweet.
But the collective class “favorite” was a wonderful concoction of strawberries,
sour cream, basil and balsamic vinegar! Fantastic frozen fun!!!