As part of my SURFACE DECORATION end-of-class trading game, tonight I put one of these green plates into the game… still in the category of “something stamped.” And as luck would have it, Christine went home with a green stamped plate… and I went home with her stamped mug!!! Go figure!

As part of the final SURFACE DECORATIONS class of the session, we did my favorite “trading-exchanging-stealing” game… with the category of something stamped! Everyone put in a piece they made this session, and then went home with someone else’s!!! I was the lucky winner of this cute mug by Christine! A wonderful memento of our SURFACE DECORATIONS class!

With the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR coming soon… just over a week away… I figured it was time to tackle setting up my first ETSY Shop! I’ve been meaning to do it for years… especially over the past year while we were all locked down. But now with a deadline looming… it’s time to get it done! We all know I work best with a deadline!!!

Watch for it to go live early on Friday, June 18th for the three-day pottery tour! I’m not sure how it works, but here’s the link to my page… https://www.etsy.com/shop/FireWhenReadyPottery …although it’s totally empty right now. But I think you could probably tag it, like it or bookmark it somehow for later?!

Just a little snippet of nature’s beauty this morning. Someone down the street is growing this beautiful clematis up their fence. I don’t really have a good spot to grow a clematis in my “city garden”… so I’ll just have to admire other’s!

In anticipation of the morning’s “event” I couldn’t get the Johnny Cash classic song out of my head! They told us we would have a “Ring Of Fire” solar eclipse this morning… which was cool… but the alignment was a bit more like a chomp bite out of a cookie!

Another stop along the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR will be in Gardner, Illinois. Hosted by Anne Maraviglia with invited guest artists Roberta Polfus & Hironobu Nishitateno.

Be sure to add this to your calendar for the online kick-off next Friday morning, June 18th with sales & virtual demos all weekend long!

For more details, artist links & demo schedules, visit www.northernilpotterytour.com

Five more ceramic artists will be part of the Burr Ridge studio location of Jean Burnett for the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR.

She will be hosting with invited artists Nancy Gorman, Nancy Jana-Kent, Chris Cox & Deana Bada Maloney! This year they will all be participating online… with plans for a live in-person pottery tour next year!

For more info – www.northenrilpotterytour.com

Another “stop” along the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR will be in Aurora, Illinois hosted by Jon Pacheco. He will have four invited artists along with him… Chelsea Dubick, Tanvvi Agarrwal, Levi Yastrow & Carly Connelly.

Check out the website for more information… www.northernilpotterytour.com

Another stop along the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR will be in Plano, Illinois. Hosted by wood-firing Amy Song, with invited guest artists Jess Dougherty, Sam Hostert & Susan Messer-McBride. You can check-out all of their work when the tour goes “live” online next weekend June 18, 19 & 20th.

For more information, go to www.northernilpotterytour.com

For the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR, I am one of the Invited Guest Artists at the Sandwich, Illinois location! I will be joining my pal & uber-talented paperclay artist Cory McCrory, along with Nancy Gardner & Linda Kiepke. Unfortunately, this year the tour will be “virtual” with online sales by all of the ceramic artists! I can’t wait for next year when I get to play in-person with these three talented women!

For more information : www.northernilpotterytour.com