This morning I started with a ride along the lakefront as usual…
Beautiful sunrise… Nice colors… Great silhouettes.
But soon enough, I was going to be seeing the “sky” a whole lot closer!

Hard to believe it’s almost time to start up again…
seems like Spring might have finally made it to Chicago?!
Ironic to be talking SUMMER Art Fairs already, huh???

Mark your calendars…
and let’s hope the weather clears up for these art fair weekends.
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Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, May 24th, 2014 – 10:00am-6:00pm
Sunday, May 25th, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center
201 Schaumburg Court in Schaumburg, Illinois

Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, June 7th, 2014 – 10:00am-6:00pm
Sunday, June 8th, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Burlington Park on Chicago Avenue between Washington & Garfield Streets
in Hinsdale, Illinois

Evanston Lakeshore Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, August 2nd, 2014 – 11:00am-6:00pm
Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 – 11:00am-6:00pm
Located in Dawes Park along beautiful Lake Michigan
on Sheridan Road between Church & Davis in Evanston, Illinois

Art In The Garden : A Grassroots Art Fair
Saturday, August 30, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, August 31st – 10:00am-5:00pm
1205 Hutchings Avenue, Glenview, IL 60025
One block west of Waukegan Road, between Lake Street and Glenview Road.
It’s a special weekend to play with My Talented Friends!!!
We’re at the home of metalsmith Amy Taylor, with our other artist friends…
ceramic artist Cory McCrory, metalsmith Carole Axium and photographer John Caruso.

Art In The Barn
Saturday, September 27th, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, September 28th, 2014 – 10:00am-5:00pm
Located on the grounds (and in the barns) of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital
on Route 22 in Barrington, Illinois – Lower Barn E4 & E6

“My Home For The Holidays” Home Show
Saturday, November 22nd, 2014 – 10:00am-6:00pm
Sunday, November 23rd, 2014 – 10:00am-6:00pm
Contact me for invitations & more information…

Firing day is a very long day.
It starts early in the morning.
It lasts ALL day and into the evening.
You’re kind of “stuck” there monitoring & adjusting throughout the day.
So it’s the perfect day to get a lot of “busy work” done.

Class demo pots glazed. Check.
Teacher shelf wiped down & clean. Check.
A couple episodes of “Seinfeld.” Check.
Studio cleaned. Check.
Floor mopped. Check.
Garbage taken out to dumpster. Check.
Plants watered. Check.
A couple episodes of my favorite TV show ever – “Lost”. Check.
Chatting with friends. Check. Check… and Check.
Hot Fudge Turtle Sundae with EXTRA Hot Fudge with Sarah… CHECK!!!

When the kiln gets up towards its top temperatures… kinda when cone 9 is getting soft,
I start inserting the soda mixture into the kiln. The soda ash, soda bicarbonate, whiting & wood chips vaporize in the fire box to create an instant soda vapor that travels through the kiln and “glazes” the pots with random flashing marks. Several rounds of soda insertion and eventually the mixture runs out… and cone 10 goes down. Soak it for a few minutes and then done.

Turn it off. Turn off the gas. Turn off the air. Close the damper. Push in all of the peeps.
Suddenly silent. Eerie.

Kiln fired… CHECK!!!

After a few long days of glazing & wadding, I was finally ready to load the kiln.
An empty kiln has such potential…

I always start in the back with a single stack of shelves. These will get hit with a bit less soda than the front, so I plan ahead and use different clay bodies for this area. Porcelain & B-Clay “blush” really well back here without getting “blasted” by the soda. As well as pieces that have a git more glaze, or I’m hoping for a more subtle effect.

The middle & front stack of shelves get built at the same time. It’s always a puzzle putting it together. Trying to fit in as much as you can while leaving a bit of airspace for the soda to travel through. As you’ve seen… I LOVE to pack a kiln. And I LOVE kiln filler. So it all comes together in this final glaze firing… as I pack it tight and try my best to cover every possible space of kiln shelf!!!

Once loaded and the cone packs are in place, it’s time to start bricking it up… one brick at a time!

All closed up. A very short preheat while I tidy up & gather my things.
And then it’s off for the night – waiting for an early start tomorrow morning.

Firing after firing, the soda atmosphere not only makes beautiful glaze effects on the pots…. but it is also building up on the back wall of the kiln and creating this beautiful, drippy, glazy beauty on the bricks!!!

My favorite metalsmith Sarah Chapman is downstairs in the Lillstreet Gallery for the opening of her Jewelry Trunk Show. Stop by tonight to see her and her incredible jewelry!!! She’s here tomorrow too – teaching a workshop, showing in the Gallery… and we have plans for hot fudge!!!

And if you can’t make it to see her in person, her jewelry will be here for awhile. And there are PLENTY of these signs everywhere with her picture on them. Ha!!!

Today I glazed… a lot of temoku.
Today I wadded… a lot of glue.
Today I repeated… and repeated… and repeated… until the cart was full.

Once my studio cart was full, I was ready to roll it downstairs using the rickety freight elevator. I always use a few strips of masking tape as “safety belts” to keep pieces from jumping off the cart during the trip!