It was already Day Three of my Wheelthrowing Camp this week… and the kids are having a great time getting all gloopy & gloppy! And I must admit… I am too… as I LOVE SUMMER CAMP!!!

With just a “LITTLE” time between summer camp & teaching my beginning wheel class tonight, I thought it would be the perfect time to throw a bunch of “LITTLE” pots!

I had thrown a large platter for a class demo… and then it “lived under plastic” for a bit too long, getting too dry to stamp. So I gave it to my friend & former student to work her magic on. Kristen has been doing wonderful carving techniques on her pots, but mostly smaller mugs & bowls. I thought it might be fun to challenge her with a larger surface to decorate. And she did NOT disappoint!!! The platter looks AMAZING with her beautiful carvings all around the rim. It’s now back in my studio and I need to figure out where to go from here. To glaze or soda-fire, that is the question…

Check-out more of Kristen’s amazing work on Instagram… @kayhoceramics

My cousin Kim was outside enjoying her garden… and decided to take a few blooms to enjoy inside as well. Good thing she had one of my flat textured ikebana vases to put them in… using the small pin frog inside to prop-up the flowers! Thanks for sharing your beautiful garden Kim!

Today’s the day!!! My Summer Camp “tour of duty” begins today… and continues through Labor Day! This year I will be doing mostly wheelthrowing camps with the kids, as many of the extra-fun “specialty” camps were not offered this year at Lillstreet. We still have Chess Camp at the very end of summer, but sadly, no super huge sculptures this summer!!! mwah, mwah, mwah…

After the “surprise” rain this afternoon… it was back into the studio to do a little more platter stamping. Changing a plain wheelthrown platter into a decoratively textured platter. All with just one handmade clay stamp pressed in over & over & over again!

So I was just out for an afternoon bike ride along the lake… gentle clouds, breezy, nice. But then… seemingly out of nowhere, the winds went crazy, the clouds went dark & the temperature dropped quickly!!! I even saw little pop-up sailboats racing back to safety… only to see three of them capsize from the wind. Luckily, they were all well-trained and got them back up quickly. So… I turned around, got drizzled on twice & picked up my pace racing home. I just got home LITERALLY three minutes before the sky opened up & the rain started coming down!!! Whew!!!

We’re just about two months away from ART IN THE GARDEN… my favorite grassroots art fair with a bunch of My Talented Friends!!! Mark your calendar now! And now I need to focus on a couple “surprise” collaboration projects too!

ART IN THE GARDEN : Saturday, September 7th & Sunday, September 8th

Just a little glimpse of the NASCAR “craziness” going on downtown this weekend. If you look close, you can see just a smidge of Buckingham Fountain down in the bottom right corner between all of the tents, semi’s, portos & huge red Grandstands built for the NASCAR Road Race spectators this weekend.

With just a simple wisp of colored clouds, the morning turned out to be calm & clear. The perfect chance to pedal down to Promontory Point & back… before the craziness of NASCAR downtown sets in today!!!