My Summer Camp “Tour of Duty” has officially come to an end. Tomorrow I get back to reality. Special thanks to my camp assistants last week for making my last week of camp so much fun! Sonali & Bella started out as my summer campers years ago… and are now off to college!!! Sure, a hot fudge sundae at Margie’s made it pretty sweet too! And yes, that is TWO things of hot fudge.. don’t judge… our afternoon camp was a rough one!!!

I love when Mother Nature is so confident that these little plants will find a home wherever they can. Sitting in any little crack in the cement… and thriving on the east end apron of Chicago’s Navy Pier.

A clear morning along the lake. A bit chilly after yesterday’s storms. Crisp & clear. Nice to get out on the lakefront bike trail before the crowds arrive for the Chicago Air & Water Show later this morning.

A quick apology for being so delayed in posting this one.
Kinda scary how fast the year is passing by. We’ve all been so busy!!!
Busy in our studios making art. Busy at the weekend art fairs… SUMMER CAMP!!!
And hopefully busy having more than a little fun playing this summer!

Here’s another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
And now we’re over half way done! Whew… 2016 is just flying by!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory has had an incredibly busy time this summer preparing for her son’s wedding…making vases & mini cups! Looks like that theme has continued with a few more mini cups to celebrate her Scandinavian heritage. A few tiny Glogg cups to hang on the tree... maybe after a few sips!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
Sarah’s ornament for July is a twisted take & fun with copper wire. For those who know Sarah’s jewelry line, this style of wrapped wire & twisted knots might be familiar. I’m thinking she might “need” to add these to her product line… maybe some large hoop earrings???

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta is makes wonderful little teapots everyday in her normal work. Beautifully carved & sculptural mini-pots. Normally not this small… possibly the smallest tea set ever. The cutest cup of tea for your Christmas tree!

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
For July, Amy has been working on her “Heavenly Desserts” collection. They’re adorably whimsical… but now I kinda want the real treats too?! Especially the OREO’s!!!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
For July ornaments, I went with textured porcelain “icicles.” My plan is to fire them without glaze to keep them white… and then “maybe” paint one side of the spiral with a metallic silver paint, plus some ribbon to hang them from.

So there they are… July ornaments (a little bit late) of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Hopefully everyone’s schedule will settle down a bit in these last few days of summer. I know mine definitely will slow down a bit now that Summer Camp has finally come to an end.

Be sure to check out everyone’s websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

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Big sky drama means big photo fun… barely before the rain clouds moved in!!!

My original intention was to get out on the bike trail before the Chicago Air & Water Show… but turned out to be more about getting home before the rain storms!!! Red sky in the morning… should tell me something!!!

After a few days of drying on a large plaster bat, my reclaimed porcelain slurry has set-up enough to start wedging. After a bit of manual labor, I now have a few more bags of porcelain. A few more bags of potential.

Every Thursday during a typical Wheelthrowing Camp is Terra Cotta Day!
I try to tell them in advance that it’s going to be messy. A lot messier than stoneware.
Generally they scoff at it. And think that I’m exaggerating. And then THIS happens…

Gooey-gloppy messy hands… and arguably the dirtiest wheel EVER!!!
Good thing we have Rule #3… “Whatever mess you make, YOU will be cleaning up.”
And she did.

THE BIG REVEAL.
A quick peek into the top as we started to unbrick reveals a well-melted cone pack.
Cone 10 just a bit flatter than I would normally go for, but it took our class a bit longer to get all of the soda mixture into the kiln. Oh well… still a beautiful kiln full.

After the door bricks were removed, the Soda Workshop Team started unloading their kiln. Piece by piece. Shelf by shelf. Post by post. Trying my best to limit the ooh-ing & aahhh-ing until later. I thought it would be best if we got all of the pots unloaded into one of the classrooms… and then clean the kiln, scrape the shelves and kiln wash before we start to admire their treasures! I was afraid that if we started the admiration process, I may never get them back into the kiln room to do the “ugly” part of the process.

A quick shot of the back stack before it was unloaded.

One casualty… it was a large, flat oval casserole. It was liner glazed with Reitz Green and nothing outside. Rachel wasn’t too upset as it is all part of the learning curve. But she also couldn’t help herself with camera is at the ready!

It was such a “perfect” crack that we think it might have been a bad glaze fit. With the inside lined with glaze, and nothing on the outside, the shrinkage differential may have been too much for the low, flat oval casserole. The cracks were right through the walls of the pot… nowhere near the construction points as you might expect.

As their soda-fired pots began to pile up, it was tough to stop the admiration! So many beautiful pots. So many new things to learn. So many excited Soda Workshop peeps!!!

All too soon, it was back to the “ugly” part of the process. They scraped the shelves down and then re-painted them with kiln wash. My very least favorite part of the entire process. I would much rather scrape than kiln wash!!!

So many shelves that they had to expand into the larger kiln room to spread the shelves out.

It was a long thee days. Yet never enough time to bequeath all of the soda-firing information. So much to share, so little time. I’m pretty sure the Soda-Firing Workshop students had a great time. Their pots turned out great… and now they have been bitten by the “soda” bug. Let the addiction begin…

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