Celebrating another TEXTURE TUESDAY with some fun stamped & soda-fired textures! And looking forward to this weekend when I share some “soda-fun” by teaching a 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP at Lillstreet Art Center. It’s a fast-paced weekend for my workshop students to get a quick taste of the soda-firing process… hoping they love their results after the firing. I’m sure there will be some great photos to come!!!

A lot of stamping yesterday… followed by a LOT of colored flashing slip accents painted in all the right places today!!! You know I work best under deadline… rush, rush… it’s all coming together!!!

Pretty excited about this first batch of “hybrid” mugs… half wheelthrown, half handbuilt… using my new MKM Pottery Tools for some great patterns & textures. I’m pretty sure the soda kiln is going to LOVE making all of these textures really pop!!!

Just a little bit of stamping going on today… one last project I think I can still get done in time for next weekend’s soda kiln firing?!

After a wonderfully productive day in the studio… you never want to end the day with that dreaded thwump, thwump, thwump sound when driving home!!! Only to find a huge “spike” sticking out of your now-totally-flat-tire. Ugh… luckily I had everything I needed to change to the spare. Looks like tomorrow I go to find a NEW tire!!!

While it’s still feeling a bit like Winter here… I’m looking forward to getting some leaves back on the trees around here! But until then… I guess some clay gingko leaves in my studio might have to be good enough. Especially when they’re headed to the “4×4 : Four Makers” Show coming up in two weeks! So far so good… but they still need to be glazed & fired… so fingers crossed!

Another quick batch of textured “tiles” getting ready for the kiln… hoping that this very loose plan will come together in time for “4×4 : Four Makers” in Evanston. It’s a bit sketchy still… fingers crossed…

This week in THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN, I figured they’ve had a lot of challenges lately… so it might be time for some fun game time! So instead of another wheelthowing project… we went with CLAY-TIONARY! Basically the classic game of Pictionary, but with sculpting of clay versus drawing on paper! They had so much fun… and surprised me with how competitive it got!!! Not the best “sculptures”… but they were all under a quick time crunch!

Any guesses from their clues?…

1. The Beatles

2. Martian

3. Monopoly

4. Scooby-Doo

5. Royal Flush… yes, that’s supposed to be a crown!!!

So I’m not 100% sure of what’s going on here… but I’m definitely intrigued! Looks like glass artist Robin Kittleson is getting ready for our “4×4 : Four Makers” show… just two weekends away! We’re all working on a large group “collaboration” project… and I think we’re all racing the deadline just a bit?! I can’t wait to see what these polka dots turn out to be.

We hope you can join us!
Here’s a bit more information for you…

Homemade food always tastes better on handmade pottery!