And oh, but wait there’s more… SO MUCH MORE!!!
Or would that be MORE-eo?!!!

Not only did I get Christine’s Chicago flag flowerpot as part of our trading game… l ALSO got this amazing piece that she made as a surprise gift for me!!! Christine has been taken several of my classes and knows my penchant for OREOs firsthand. So she knew that this would be the PERFECT gift for me. And apparently, there was an all-on covert operation going on behind-the-scenes at Lillstreet to get it through all of the firings without me seeing it (thank you Dave – her cohort in crime!) Such an AMAZING way to end our session… with this AMAZING OREO PLANTER.

And don’t hate… but this is only Christine’s second handbuilding project ever!.. yes, she’s one of “those” people!!! I will do a post soon that show’s her step-by-step process in building this masterpiece!!!

After last night’s “exchanging-trading-stealing” game with my Intermediate class, I walked away with this SWEETIE of a flowerpot Christine! She’s been working a lot with terra cotta, white underglaze backgrounds & detailed paintings with colored underglaze. This one commemorates the Chicago flag & Lillstreet 2021. Great class… great planter… great souvenir of our class!!!

Tonight is the final class of our Monday Intermediate Wheelthrowing class. As with most of my classes, I like to do a little “trading-exchanging-stealing” game with my students. To celebrate Spring, the category for tonight is a wheelthrown flower pot with a plant growing inside. This is my entry in the game… blooming right on schedule!

FYI: We were supposed to end last week which would have been perfect for St. Patrick’s Day… but we got postponed a week do to the snowstorms that shut-down Lillstreet for two days! So we missed the holiday, but now they get flowers! HA!!!

After a little more pinching, shaving, shaping & smoothing… I kind of felt like this batch of spoons was ready to call done. They’ll dry now and then need to be bisque fired before I send them through the soda kiln. I’m going to leave this batch “plain”… but already considering the next batch might need some stamping & colored flashing slip accents.

You know my motto… MORE IS MORE!

When we last visited this class demo project, I had thrown these silly little spiky things off-the-hump in class as part of a “challenge”… thanks Christine!

Since then, I started to make pinch pots with the extra clay at the bottom… creating some SPOONS!!! I may have left the clay dry up a smidge too much, as the pinch pot clay was a bit harder to move around than expected.

But after a little “persuasion” the spoons started coming together nicely. I got them “mostly” formed, but then decided to let them sit & stiffen up a little bit more before finishing them.

A beautiful swirl of marbled clay! A small dessert plate by one of my students who has been playing with marbled colored clays! Nice swirl Katie!

Celebrating another MUGSHOT MONDAY with a little fresh air out on my front porch! It’s a little cloudy, but the warmer weather is much appreciated. Thank You Mother Nature!

A beautiful morning along the lakefront. So nice that Spring seems to be settling in… hopefully for good! It was a bit breeze, but a great ride. And a great chance to see the new Keith Haring sculpture at Belmont Harbor. The construction fencing is finally down and hopefully the surrounding garden will be planted soon.

Speaking of class demos… here’s my first bowl using the water erosion technique! Remember, I used shellac to paint on the pattern and then wiped away the surface of the background… leaving the protected areas a little raised from the background. I then glazed it in a forest green celadon glaze that turns blue when the soda atmosphere hits it. So the wide range of colors that go around the bowl are all from the “magic” of the soda kiln firing… not me!!!

A beautifully chilly start to the day.
Low-hanging mist giving a frozen touch to the morning.