I’m assuming you’ve figured it out… my THROWDOWN class made large platters… and then made their own stamps… any guesses???

Well, I was “hoping” that they might not have put it together, but I think they all had a pretty good clue! Anyway, this week’s LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenge was to take the stamps they made last week and decorate their platters using primarily their stamps as their surface decoration technique! And many of them have never stamped before!… wait, what?!!!

Looks like Kristy is starting off her Saturday with some yummy homemade granola on a bit of vanilla yogurt… in one of my handmade stamped bowls! Looks amazing AND healthy!!! And yet everyone knows that your food will taste even better when served in handmade pottery!

Something “blooming” in my studio today… hoping it stays fresh as we’re just three weeks away from “4×4 : Four Makers” Show. I still need to fire, glaze & fire again. I haven’t quite figured out if this is Plan A, B or C?! I’m working on three different versions… hoping at least one of them works out!

Mark your calendar for this fun pop-up gallery show in Evanston the first weekend of March! March 3rd, 4th & 5th… more details to come…

Just a handmade stamp & a pointy piece of wood. Soon enough I had this fully stamped platter ready to start drying more. Still needs to be trimmed… but one step closer to done!

Kind of enamored with this platter that I threw as a class demo in a recent class. I think it’s all about the lighting!!! It’s a bit of an optical illusion… is the spiral indented or raised up?! You know how I LOVE a good spiral!

Celebrating NATIONAL PIZZA DAY with a quick dinner before going downstairs to teach the GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN tonight. You know how much I love a good “National Holiday”… especially when it’s covered with gooey-melty cheese!!!

Last Thursday during my GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged my students to throwing a six-pound platter in twenty minutes. Larger than most of them have ever thrown… and one has “never” thrown… so overall I was quite impressed & they all did an AMAZING job with this challenge.

Fiddling around with a little clay tonight… making some leaves… and making some new “plans” hopefully for the “4×4 : Four Makers” Show. Starting small, making more… and trying to figure out where these leaves might end up?! Fingers crossed...

I’ve made a LOT of clay stamps over the years… so why not challenge my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students to do the same?! So last week in class, they were each tasked with making three handmade clay stamps during class. Easy enough, right?!

Except for the fact that they had to choose three random words sight-unseen… and then make a stamp that represented each word!!! Not too tough… except for the fact that they couldn’t even “test” their stamps to see how they did until they dry & are bisque fired. Some of them were pretty darn thick, so they’re going to take awhile to dry fully!

After days & days of morning grayness, it was great to finally see some sunrise colors this morning over the lakefront. Still a little chilly, but encouraging that Spring might be on its way in the not-so-distant future?!