Details. Stamps. Handles. Bowls… just a little visual “teaser” of the new basket bowls that have now all been glazed… and getting ready for a POP-UP SALE on my Fire When Ready Pottery Facebook page… coming soon!!!

Limited colors & quantities… sorry, no dibs
Gotta wait for the sale!

Click here to go to my Facebook page!

I mean, c’mon…. could these two rascals BE any cuter?!
Best buddies & playmates. Hanging-out playing with my niece Taylor’s two puppies Riley & Shadow!

Another overcast Spring day… finding new places to explore
while staying “right on track” before the rain gets here!

No chance for a sunrise this morning… just gray clouds & smooth biking!

FINALLY!!! How did this take so long CBS?

I mean, if you were to be shut-down and told to “shelter-in-place” for the pandemic, what better place than on a deserted island in Fiji?! Right?… two tribal “bubbles” competing against each other on a deserted beach far away from everyone. Sign me up… it would have been a lot more fun than creating a dent on my sofa with a remote control in hand for the past year!!! HA!!!

This past weekend we did a little “celebrating” of my niece
Taylor’s “Sweet 16” birthday… her second Covid birthday!

While we stayed safe in our family bubble, we also tried the new “pandemic trend” of cutting & eating cake with wine glasses! Pretty fun, a little messy and a LOT of yummy chocolate frosting! We all liked it… except maybe my Dad who I think prefers the old-fashioned slice of cake on a plate!

And coincidentally, I went home with a mug from Kate, and a mug from Kathleen! So we kinda “traded” after a good amount of switching & stealing along the way!

Kate’s mug has a shino glaze base with a green glaze squirted on as an accent that does amazing things during the firing.

Kathleen went a bit more “structured” with thin tape lines to block out her primary colored design using underglazes.

Each of them a nice addition to my already overflowing Mug Collection!

Last night in my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class, we did our last class “exchange-trading-stealing” game … this time with a theme of TWO mugs… “matching” if you’ve taken my class before! These bright green mugs… that were “kinda” matching… were my entries into the game… and I believe they happily went home with Kate & Kathleen!

Last night in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we did a little “exchanging-trading-stealing” game… and the theme was FLOWER POTS with a plant inside! We all had a great time sharing our flowerpots & plants. And THEN… Christine pulled out another bag all wrapped up for ME!!! What?!… A late entry into the “sharing game” just for me?!

And it turned out to be this AMAZING cookie creation!!! Sure, she might just know a little somethin’-somethin’ about my OREO addiction?!

Christine is fairly new to the handbuilding… with this being only her SECOND handbuilding project ever. Never one to shy away from a good challenge, Christine took it upon herself to build this amazing flower pot! Even better – working at her new make-shift pottery studio workspace at home in her kitchen! Recently pulled together due to the pandemic restrictions and her ever-growing addiction to clay!

So here’s a little step-by-step process story for you… with special THANKS to Christine for sharing all of her process photos!

It looks like Christine started by enlarging the famous OREO pattern embossed on the cookies… and then cut them out to use them as templates & stencils for the project.

Using the patterns, Christine cut out the logo from a slab of clay. Funny thing… I was right there while Christine was rolling out her slabs on the Lillstreet slab roller.. and had no idea what she was working on! And then she continued to cut out all of the other parts & pieces. Good thing Christine has a nice “damp box” at home to store all of these pieces as she’s working on them.

Using the original stencils, Christine then transferred the pattern onto the large “cookie” circle disc of slab clay. This process makes it a LOT easier to places the pieces later.

After a LOT of scoring & slipping… the textured & embossed “cookie” was coming along nicely… still waiting for the decorative border of little rectangles. A lot of them!!!

So here are the two oversized “cookies” just waiting for the cream filling… the “container” portion of the flower pot!!!

The flower pot portion was created out of slabs as well… looks like this one might be TRIPLE STUFFED!!!

With a little chunk of sponge to support the cookie walls, the flower pot was assembled and allowed to stiffen up without sagging.

Christine then added some slabs to the bottom as “feet” for the flower pot to stand on… and NOT roll around like a cookie on its side!

While the flower pot was setting up, Christine made a small water trip tray to fit under the flowerpot.

When both pieces were finally dried, they were bisque-fired… bringing out the “traditional” terra cotta coloring we all love!

And then a couple coats of underglaze to give it that special OREO cookie color!!!

But then the triple-stuffed “filling” needed to be painted with white underglaze… using green tape to make nice clean lines between the colors.

All coming together… looking more & more like an OREO cookie!!!

And then a couple layers of glazed sprayed on to give it some shine.

And then it was ready to go back into the kiln for the glaze firing. Huge thanks to Dave Trost for being Christine’s “cohort-in-crime” – helping to facilitate this covert project. Apparently there was a lot of hiding & stashing of this piece so that I wouldn’t happen upon it ruining the surprise. A lot was going on around me… and I had NO IDEA!!!

After the glaze firing, it looked great. Christine apologized a bit for the coloring… bringing up that they have made Blueberry OREOS in the past!!! Sure, the traditional dark brown OREO might have been nice, but the blue hue makes it a bit more fun & magical.

Such a wonderful surprise by one of My Talented Students!!!
THANK YOU AGAIN CHRISTINE!!!

So after last night’s pottery class – the last of our Winter session – I walked away with two AMAZING flowerpots made my my uber-talented student Christine! I have some of the BEST students ever!!! Thank You again Christine – you rock!!!