There may be inches of snow outside, but there’s still a friendly burst
of “tropical” in my kitchen window.

Another ceramic mask just found a good home…
“New addition to our art collection. At first it was going to hang on our oak tree out back. But for now it has a home between the family room and dining area.”
Thanks Don!!!

Today is the SECOND (and final) Holiday Home Show of this year. Yeah!!!
And to celebrate, the first Facebook Fan to stop by my place
and sing the first verse of “Jingle Bells” wins a FREE MUG…
and plenty of warm apple cider to fill it up!!!

Seems like so long ago… but in my last soda kiln, I fired some new work including these textured wall pillows. I’ve been trying to come up with a new piece for the holiday Home Shows. Something new for people to hang on the wall. I’ve already made ceramic masks and tiled ClayQuilts. Oh, but what to do next… and I came up with these. I started by making these textured round tiles that hang flat to the wall… with a little depth to pop them off the wall. Here’s a quick “teaser’ of a few of them as I was unloading the kiln.

I made them in three different sizes.  My hope is that people will make their own collections, and decide how to hang them on their walls in all different configurations. I threw together this first one on my living room wall as an example for the first Holiday Home Show. It’s a quick “constellation” of textured tiles.

And now I’ve thrown together a few more examples of how they can be used.
Random constellations. Random groupings. Different sizes. Same sizes.
Straight lines. Trios. Doubles. Singles. So many ways to play with them on your wall.

Pick & choose… plenty to choose from to make your own “constellation.”
I had fun making them, so there’s a pretty good chance there will be more coming soon!
Yet, I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to show them at the summer art fairs???

My good friend Nancy told her little boy Jimmy that she was coming
to help tomorrow at the Holiday Home Show. He replied…

“Why are you going to help him?  He’s the best artist we know!”

I’d say Jimmy is very wise!  Ha.

Don’t forget that tomorrow is my SECOND Holiday Home Show.
It’s the perfect chance to finish your holiday shopping & relax on my sofa at the same time! We’re open from 10:00am-6:00pm with pots in every room, and a newly replenished “Tired Of Shlepping Sale” on the back porch! Just send me a quick message if you need my home address!

Sadly, these ceramic masks never get to play at my summer art fairs. No good place to hang them in my soft-sided tent. Instead, they’ve kind of become a staple on my living wall for the Holiday Home Shows. And for this Saturday 12/14 only, I’m marking down these & more – 20% OFF ON SATURDAY.

My journey through this year has been spotted with holiday ornaments!
When Sarah Chapman and I devised this monthly challenge, I didn’t quite realize how much work it was going to be. Nor how much fun it was going to be. It pushed me to make different things. Pushed me to met the monthly deadlines. And at the same time… I ended up with a LOT of holiday ornaments!!! Twelve months worth of ornaments… plus a few extras along the way! Why stop at twelve??? More is always better, right?

I also realized that many of my “entries” in the Ornament Challenge were only shown in process or drying to greenware. Come to think of it, I can’t even remember if I EVER showed any finished ones here on my blog??? So… to make up for that, here are all twelve of my holiday ornaments for the year.

JANUARY – stoneware wreaths with a metallic-red-glittered clay bow

FEBRUARY – soda-fired double puffed stars with a texture on both sides.

MARCH – porcelain domed white snowflakes… some glazed, some not.

APRIL – soda-fired silhouette ornament shapes in either porcelain or stoneware.

MAY – contemporary glazed porcelain discs.

And an “extra” bonus ornament… made from the cut-out circle from above!

JUNE – tiny textured porcelain fortune cookies.

JULY – soda-fired stoneware spirals with stamped patterns & slip accents.

AUGUST – terra cotta textured double stars.

And oh, but wait there’s more... soda-fired stoneware ones too!

SEPTEMBER – whimsically dangling gingerbread men made with terra cotta.

OCTOBER – soda-fired dome star cut-outs

Plus, when you have star cut-outs... you can make tiny, little star ornaments!

NOVEMBER – glazed white terra cotta snowflakes on an underglazed textured ring

DECEMBER – Ho… what more can I say? Stoneware glazed… some soda-fired, some not.

All of these ornaments will be available at my SECOND Holiday Home Show!!!
Saturday, December 14th – 10:00am-6:00pm. Contact me for address info.
Some of them are in very limited quantities. So come grab ’em up quickly.

It’s the last month of the year… and here’s my last holiday ornament!!!
Searching for a little holiday inspiration, I pulled a little inspiration from my own front porch! If any of you drive by my condo, you might look up and see my holiday proclamation in lights… plus some twinkling “snow” flickering about. Keeping it short and to the point.

So why not make them in clay too?!!!… and I did.

Sure I could have just let them slump & dry… but instead I propped up the “H” on bamboo skewers to account for the thickness of the “O” to keep them level & flat.

I saw Sarah here in Chicago this weekend as I was helping her at the “One Of A Kind Show.” And she said that she would most definitely have a December entry in the Monthly Challenge. So when I get it from her, I will definitely post it here on the blog too. Fingers crossed for one last ornament from Sarah…

With my second Holiday Home Show this coming Saturday,
I’ve been getting a few new pieces out of the kiln just in time… limited quantities!
This last batch of glazed pieces comes from a cone 10 reduction gas kiln.
Some of them have some pretty sweet glaze runs & chemical interactions.

You can grab one of these beauties this coming Saturday at my place!
The SECOND Holiday Home Show
Saturday, December 14th from 10:00am-6:00pm.
If you need home address specifics, just send me an e-mail or Facebook message!