It’s early October… but it’s never too early to make another batch of holiday star ornaments, right?!

Another culinary treat from my friend Julie. This time some sort of chocolate torte with a raspberry glaze. Looks pretty yummy on a blue sgraffito platter! Thanks for sharing your masterpiece Julie… now if she could just share a slice of that torte too?!!!

A trio of textures along the Chicago Marathon route. I was watching the runners on the Chicago River Bridge… which they cover with red carpet so the runners don’t need to run on the rough metal grates. Although I do question that idea… as I saw six people go down when they tripped on the red carpet!!!

Always a special day when the Chicago Marathon works its way through the neighborhoods for 26.2 miles of fun! The weather may not be ideal with some gusty wind & a little drizzles of rain, but all of the runners were off to a good start. So fun cheering them on close to the start as they crossed the Chicago River for the first time. Fun to see the Elite Runners, the parathletes, the “normal” runners… and even cheering on the last one! Give it your all… you got this!!!

And remind me again why I felt compelled to add long swim & an even longer bike ride BEFORE my full marathon last weekend?!

Always good to have a little early morning sunrise “affirmation” along the Chicago River… made me smile! Thanks.

After a week of clouds & rain… a week of IRONMAN recovery… and a week of blisters healing… it felt GREAT to finally get back out on my bike this morning! Sure, it was cloudy & windy… but so much to be outside playing along the lakefront again!

After showing my Beginners how to make a “bowl on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad, I then proceeded to throw a bunch more during class for us to “play” with later!

When I had all twelve bowls thrown, we re-grouped and I showed them some quick tricks & techniques to make their bowls more personal & more stylish… and a little less-basic!!!

And here they are… in the sequence that we made them! You can kinda see the progression along the way!

Bowl #1 – Four fluted edges

Bowl #2 – Flared flange

Bowl #3 – Wider flared flange

Bowl #4 – Flared flange with fluted edges

Bowl #5 – Split-rim with pinched accents

Bowl #6 – Split-rim with dented & squared-off perimeter

Bowl #7 – Split-rim with pinched dents in & out

And then I introduced my new students to colored slips as an option for surface decoration! I explained to them that colored slip is clay… and basically a colored “skin” that you paint on the outside of your thrown pot. I was EXCITED to try out the new Holiday Red slip we have at Lillstreet. It was introduced towards the end of Summer Camp… and this is the first time I’ve really gotten around to trying it on a “real” pot of any kind!

Bowl #8 – Plain bowl with a colored slip spiral

Bowl #9 – Plain bowl with a squiggles with the wheel spinning… ala finger-painting!!!

Bowl #10 – Plain bowl with decorative chattering… rhythmic tapping of a rubber rib through the slip as the wheel was spinning.

Bowl #11 – Another plain bowl with bands of colored slip… I left the thick band in the center so I can do some carving in that area later when the slip dries up a bit.

Bowl #12 – The last bowl we left plain with a simple coat of red slip. The plan is that my teaching assistant Susan will do a demo next week of how she does her sgraffito technique.

So here the are… all done for the night! Twelve bowls with twelve different techniques to make them each a bit more special.

And then I covered them with plastic up in my studio for the night. I told my students I would try to keep these bowls “viable” and ready for some stamping & detailing in class next week. I hope I can wait long enough… you know how I like to stamp everything!

After stamping, trimming & adding handles… I added some colored flashing slip accents to the latest batch of mugs! The band along the top with a smidge on the stamped impressions… and these slips will change colors during the soda firing!

A beautiful bouquet of alstromeria in one of my stamped & glazed vases. Melissa shared the photo with me, along with the memory of when we met several years back at the Hinsdale Art Fair through her friend & stained glass artist Richard. Sadly, Richard is no longer with us, but this vase reminds her of him, as does the stained glass window in my condo!

Just finishing up another batch of mugs! I’ve encouraged my Monday night class to make MORE mugs! To not sweat over just making one “precious” one that takes up all of their time & focus. Make MORE of them and they’ll learn faster, practice more & not be so scared to try something new when glazing! This pottery thing isn’t supposed to be “precious”… IT’S JUST CLAY!!!