Celebrating NATIONAL TILE DAY with a quick glimpse of the tiled wall I made for my condo! Sure, it may be one of little known holidays… but still a fun “reason” to show-off my tiled wall. Usually just those folks who come to my Holiday Home Show gets to see it. There are just short of three thousand handmade soda-fired tiles on the wall… 2,894 for the record… with textures, patterns and a few hidden surprises!

So here’s a quick game for you…
Can you fund my initials in the mix of tiles?
As you scroll down it will get easier, so don’t cheat!

Well here’s the latest batch of mugs. All assembled & slip painted… some with orange, some mustard, some robin’s egg, and a few more colors of slip! All of which should show up better & more colorful after soda-firing!

Getting these ready for my next soda-firing… by adding some accents & details of colored flashing slips to my mugs. The slip may look a little creamy-white right now, but with the soda atmosphere during firing, this slip should turn a beautiful orange color!

Which just happens to be my favorite color… go figure!

Handles added. Mugs made.
Ready to start adding some colored flashing slips to them
before I call them done for the night!

Celebrating another MUGSHOT MONDAY
by making more mugs… and adding handles!

I’ve had this discussion before with my students…
“Can a mug be a mug without a handle?”

They seem to think you can as an “avoidance” to making handles…
I of course think not. I love making mugs. I love making handles!
They go together… by definition I believe.

Looks like one of my stamped & soda-fired mugs has found a new place of honor in Margaret’s mug collection in Ohio! Always fun to see people’s collections… especially if I’m part of it!!!

Please e-mail me photos of YOUR pottery collection or pots-in-use! I’d love to see my pottery in your home so I can share them here for everyone else!

gary@firewhenreadypottery.com

So it looks like the Spring Session of classes just opened for online registration at Lillstreet Art Center. I will be teaching three evening classes… including my usual Monday Advanced Wheelthrowing & Tuesday Beginning Wheelthrowing classes.

NEW FOR SPRING… I will also be teaching a Surface Decoration Class on Thursday evenings where we’ll focus on a different technique each week. My goal is that we can do some great interactive demos & class projects each week where everyone actual tries each technique on their own work!

Sign-up quick… Lillstreet in-person classes are still limited to eight students, socially-distanced & fully-masked due to pandemic protocols. Be safe… stay masked… and come get muddy with us this Spring!!!

And here’s a little “tour” of my back courtyard stairs & back porch situation. We have a little freezing issue going on here these days! Too much ice, not enough melting! Some spectacular icicles forming everywhere… natural beauty… and unfortunately, dripping all over the stairs creating an impassable “slippery slope”!

Guess my laundry in the basement can wait for a few more weeks until things melt?!!!

Another beautifully gray morning here in Chicago…
cold, chilly, bone-chilling “damp” with plenty of icicles everywhere! Perfect for a neighborhood stroll, right? Lots of icicle spikes forming & dripping to create iced-over clumps of “preserved” nature!

Looks like it’s another Sundae Funday Sunday!!! Yummy chocolate ice cream in “lickable” stamped & glazed bowls! Thanks for sharing Kristy & Matt… now I want ice cream too!!! Great.