So THIS just happened… I just finished Season One! Don’t get too excited, it’s my fifth time watching the entire series. We’re off to a good start… I had kinda forgotten about some of the early characters. And I love seeing all of the “clues & easter eggs” hidden in the beginning that will make more sense later!
I still maintain that “LOST” is the BEST TELEVISION SHOW EVER!!! I loved watching & piecing it all together. I loved all of the theories. I was even good with the ending. With Sawyer, Juliette & Desmond being my favorite characters!
Another beautiful morning along the lakefront. Plenty of snow mountains, city glaciers and floating chunks of icebergs! A clouded sky with wispy colors blowing through… as soon enough the clouds took over the morning sky.
So this happened in the studio tonight… a little bit of CHROMATICA with Lady Gaga OREO’s!!!
Kinda fun… but a little weird if I must say. They’re not a strange flavor, just strange colors… kind of flamingo-pink cookies with an oddly kelly green creme filling??? Pretty much the basic golden-vanilla flavor, yet a bit “thicker & crunchier” than normal OREOs??? I think I expected a little more from these “Little Monsters”!!!
But they did remind me of another great Carpool Karaoke with James Corden & Lady Gaga! Watch the YouTube video for a little Friday Night Dance Party… while driving in a van?!
Excited to be part of this year’s Winter Fundraiser “A Time To Unite” for the CHICAGO PUBLIC ART GROUP.
One of my stamped plates is part of the Silent Auction that started online today! Click on the link below to see my plate, as well as pieces by many other talented Chicago artists… some of them My Talented Friends! The auction will be live online until Thursday, March 4th… so check it out, place a bid, buy some art and support Chicago’s public art scene!
So what if it’s only single-digit cold outside?! It was still a beautiful opportunity to “run-hike-walk” along the lakefront this morning. Still a lot of snow… some of it shoveled, some of it slushy, some of it icy! No good for biking… and a bit treacherous slipping & sliding with every step. Sometimes plunging into snow up to my knees!!!
And the quest continues… my friend & master tile-maker Mike Skiersch fired some more cone six test tiles in his kiln for me. There were a few “duds”… but for the most part VERY encouraged by some of these new colors & combinations. I’m always looking for good glazes that pool & break in all the right places to accentuate the stamped patterns… and not cover them up!!! I think we’re onto something here…
After doing the crackle “trick” demo on a slab, I showed them how the same process works even better on wheelthrown pieces. So for this one I threw a basic cylinder and painted the outside with the “white slip sodium silicate mixture.” I put on a couple layers and then dried it a bit with a heat gun. Just for fun, we had also drawn some lines into the slip before expanding just out of curiosity. I mean, if we’re playing & testing, we might as well get as much “information” back from it as possible, right?
Then I pressed outwards to add volume to the cylinder with the wheel spinning… never touching the exterior with my hands… and the crackles just magically appear. The more you expand it, the bigger the crackles! So again, they were all duly impressed… and I must admit, I was pretty intrigued too!
After that first “pattern sampler” demo vase, I made a second one with the same “white slip sodium silicate mixture” but with little swipes through the slip all the way around. Again, I dried the “skin” of the slip quickly with a heat gun and then expanded it for the crackle to appear. I like this one even more… we might be onto something here… we’ll see…
And who knows… next session at Lillstreet I’ll be teaching a new “Surface Decoration” class on Thursday evenings. Pretty good chance this little trick might show up again then!!!
