Today was a great day in Schaumburg… and here’s a few more pictures of my booth & pieces. This was early on in the day, so a lot of them have already found good homes!

The sun is shining and we’re officially open for business at the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival. Complete with my ceramic Garden Shoppe just outside my tent. C’mon over… it’s going to be a beautiful weekend!

This weekend is the kick-off of my 2014 Art Fair season… and the weather forecast is looking pretty sweet too! So it should be a fun weekend in the park with some great customers & talented art fair friends. I’ll be in the same booth space #51 as usual… so stop by to say “Hi” if you have some time Saturday or Sunday!!!

Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival
Saturday, May 24th & Sunday, May 25th – 10:00am-5:00pm
101 Schaumburg Court at the Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center, Schaumburg, Illinois

Click here for more information about the Schaumburg Praire Arts Festival.

I stopped into the studio early this morning to unload my second cone six kiln.
Yes, two kilns in five days… with a cone 04 kiln squeezed in between! Not bad.
And again, I’m pretty pleased with these new glazes!!!

Although I did have a bit of a “learning curve” with this firing. I tried doing a couple glaze overlapped-combinations based on the test tiles in my last kiln. And for the most part, they didn’t turn out all that well. Seems like these glazes work much better when they’re a thinner single dip. Good to know… moving forward… Some of them did turn out pretty sweet though!

After Monday’s incredible sunrise, today was less stunning with fewer clouds in the sky.

This morning started out a little earlier & a little darker than normal. With my art fair tomorrow… I had a LOT to get done this morning so I knew I needed an early start to my day.

I stopped into the studio this morning to check on my kiln. My cone 04 kiln was “almost’ cool enough to unload. So I waited a few minutes while I put on gloves, and then tackled to warm kiln. I just couldn’t wait to unload my latest batch of terra cotta planters. These will be making their way to the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival this weekend.

Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival
Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center
201 Schaumburg Court in Schaumburg, Illinois
Saturday, May 24th & Sunday, May 25th, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm

And the other kiln was still firing… my cone 6 kiln was near the top temperature and the peeps were glowing orange!!!

After my first Cone 6 kiln turned out really well, I knew that I “needed” to squeeze in one more kiln this week. As if one cone 6 glaze and one cone 04 terra cotta weren’t enough already?!

Kiln Layer #1 – Flower pots , herb flower pots & mugs

Kiln Layer #2 – herb flower pots & mugs

Kiln Layer #3 – flower pot drip trays & spoon rests

Kiln Layer #4 – ikebana flower vases & drip trays

Kiln Layer #5 – bowls, ikebana & a “stray” drip tray!

So I’ve waited forever for Winter to end… and Spring to finally make it to Chicago.
We finally started to get some nice weather and it was looking like it might be time to do some gardening around my condo. The garden beds that go around the front of my building were filling in nicely. When I left for work this morning everything look normal. When I cam home tonight, the City of Chicago had come through and torn up everything. Ripping out the sidewalks. Tossing bricks every which way… even on top of the plants!!!

They just showed up. Did the damage and disappeared. With no advanced warning or anything?!!! Thank you Chicago City Workers!!!

So now we’re waiting to what else they’re going to do… rumor has it the street is going next?!!! I’m definitely waiting to see what’s next before we put much work into putting it all back together.

A single tree. A single silhouette. Stunning.