One of my favorite Springtime trees… a beautiful Redbud tree blooming in the forest preserve. Graceful branches covered with bright pink flowers! A beautiful contrast to the brown forest as the spring leaves are just starting to pop out there!

It was a bit on the chilly side yesterday, but the sun was out and it felt great to get some longer mileage on the bike! I got together with a couple friends and pedaled west… out to the Fox River around Elgin. My day started with some elk in Elk Grove Village, and we turned around near the Grand Victoria Riverboat Casino! Beautiful blue skies, spring flowers & some brisk breezes… with good times & good laughs with friends out on the road!!!

Somewhere along our bike route yesterday, we stopped off for more water & Gatorade… and I found this!!! Who knew this was even a thing? And a YUMMY thing at that!!! Of course with a full day on the bike… pretty much everything is yummy!

So I kinda forgot about this bowl… trimmed & under plastic… still a remainder from our first night of SURFACE DECORATION class! We started with an ombre’ blend of green & white slips… which could have been enough. But more is more, right?! So I finally finished it off today with some decorative carving using a P1 curved tip carving tool from DiamondCore Tools. So much better now!

This week in my SURFACE DECORATIONS class, we tackled the fun crackled slip effect using sodium silicate. This was my second demo piece… the first didn’t work out so well… not enough slip, plus I rushed the drying a bit. Not so crackly. So we all “learned” together… and this second one was so much better!!!

After my class demo, the students tried their version of crackled slip as well… throwing in some colored slip too! Some multiple colors & some bowl shapes! The excitement happens when you “bulge” the pot out from the inside – and the expanding of the clay makes the “quick-dried” slip crackled as the clay expands! So much fun!!!

With the recent cold-spell & dusting of April snow, it seemed oddly appropriate to crank-out another batch of Christmas ornaments!!! I love making them… but I LOVE Summer more!!! I’m kinda done with the cold weather.

The lilacs are starting to bloom with beautiful colors & wonderful fragrance. Beautiful flowers need to be shown off… and maybe a handmade vase would be the right choice?!!! Stamped & soda-fired by yours truly!!! And available in My Online Pottery Store… http://firewhenreadypottery.com/my-online-pottery-store/

Another chilly & breezy morning. Clouds in the sky giving the sun something to play with… but only for a few moments before the sun ducked back behind the clouds.

One last class demo plate, one last stamped & textured rim… for now! I’m “fairly sure” there will be more at some point soon!!!

Another side plate with a textured perimeter…
a gentle spiral and a ring of pointed stamps!

A bigger plate with a bigger flanged rim just screams out for MORE STAMPING!!! One handmade stamp pressed into the clay one by one… by one… by one…