I love the “antiqued” look & subdued colors these got from the cone 10 firing.
A simple underglaze wash inside the textures really made them pop! So now
they’re all ready to go… and are all coming with me to Hinsdale this weekend!

So I’m heading back outdoors this weekend for another art fair!
My last weekend in Schaumburg was a little wetter than hoped for…
so my fingers are crossed that this coming weekend has better weather.
But just in case… pottery looks great wet & you won’t melt. I’m just sayin’…

Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, June 11th – 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, June 12th – 10:00am-5:00pm
Located in Burlington Park in beautiful downtown Hinsdale
at Chicago and Garfield Avenues. Booth #101.

With a full collection of handmade pottery, I’ll be in the same booth location as usual.
Functional pieces like bowls, vases, mugs, plates and tumblers that you can use
everyday. Everything is food-safe, dishwasher-safe and microwave-safe.
Plus a wide collection of more decorative pieces like flower pots, terra cotta planters,
salt & pepper shakers, birdhouses, tiled wall pieces, ikebana vases & more!
All handmade… every piece is one-of-a-kind.

And don’t forget, Father’s Day is the following weekend…
and everyone’s Dad deserves a new, handmade coffee mug, right?

Hope to see you this weekend in Hinsdale!

If you can’t make it this weekend… you can always keep up
with what’s going on in the studio, as well as other stories, photos and adventures.
Click on www.facebook.com/firewhenreadypottery and then click “Like.”

Today was the “57th Street Art Fair” down on the south side of Chicago.
It’s always a fun day… chatting with my art friends, hanging out, shopping and not
having to deal with selling my own work for a change. So I hopped on my bike
and pedaled down to the Museum of Science & Industry, then went west a few blocks.

It was very hot & humid… and by the time I got to the fair I was a big sweaty mess.
But I was on a mission. My friend & potter in the Wisconsin Northwoods had called
me that morning and asked if I could purchase a piece for her from Roberta Polfus.
Roberta had posted some great pictures of her new work on Facebook, and Amy was
hoping to snag one of them… err, well, have me snag one for her! So I pedaled down
a little faster than usual… and got there a little sweatier than usual! Sadly, the piece
in question was not even at the art fair… Roberta’s saving it for an upcoming
gallery show she’s going to be in. Sorry Amy…

So then I spent the rest of the day bouncing from booth to booth saying hello
to my friends. It’s always a fun show because there are so many people there exhibiting
their work. Lots of people to talk with. Lots of great art to look at.

But then… out of nowhere, the skies began to darken, the wind picked up and there were
huge clouds coming our way. So I hopped back on my bike and pedaled north towards home.
Right into the eye of the storm! I made it to McCormick Place before the rain actually started.
By the time I got to the Museum Campus it was pouring and the temperature had dropped
dramatically. I even stopped under the bridge at Solidarity Drive… and called a few of my
friends at the fair to tell them to “batten the hatches”… something’s coming!

After “waiting it out” and not seeing an end in sight, I head out again in the deluge.
Getting completely soaked along the way. By the time I was home, I was dripping,
my shoes were squishing and the storm finally ended. And my thoughts were still back
at the art fair… hoping that everyone (and their tents) made it through the storm!

Check here for more information
as it is revealed… Art Detour.

Okay… so everyone’s been raving about the “Square” and how wonderful it is
for processing credit card transactions on my iPhone. My plan was to use it at
last weekend’s art fair… but everything didn’t go quite as planned!

When I got to the location, with a LOT of “atmospheric interference”…
which is just a nice euphemism for impending doom, gloom & storms…
my iPhone was not receiving a very strong signal. So we decided to go “old school”
with my original system of accepting cards and processing them after the show.
While I’m still intrigued by the “Square”… here’s a few things I learned…

1. With the “Square” you can now accept all four major credit cards for the same
minimal processing fee. No longer is American Express a huge expense to accept.
Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.

2. You can still use the “Square” to process credit cards manually after the show
by typing the information in by hand. My understanding is that the processing fee
is slightly higher for manual transactions.

3. If you are going to process manually, you need to “capture” the credit card number
and expiration date as normal with your old knuckle-buster. But you ALSO need to
write down the “secret” code on the back of the card and the customer’s billing address
zip code. If you don’t have all of that information, you cannot process the card manually.

4. When you get to the point where the customer has to sign, they literally use the fleshy
tip of their finger to write on the iPhone screen. Here’s the best part… if they mess up
or want to start over, you just shake the phone and it erases the signature. Do over!

5. On the customer’s receipt, there’s actually a Google Map with a pinpoint showing
the actual location of where their credit card was used. Very cool.

6. Seriously seconds after pressing “send” to process & authorize the transaction,
the information showed up right away on my laptop. Right away!!!

So I’m looking forward to my next art fair and the chance to use the “Square”
as it is intended. Swiping the cards right through my iPhone. I’m sure I’ll have more
to say about the “Square” as I continue to use it more. But for now…
I’m hopefully intrigued and think it’s going to be great… as long as I can get past
poor reception and my fear of losing battery power after a long day at the fair?!

I just received this wonderful blog “comment” from one of my customers
at last weekend’s Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival. The show wasn’t all that great
due to the rain & flooding… but receiving “comments’ like this makes it all
a whole lot better! Thank you Carol…

“I fell in love with “my” coffee mug when I saw it on the shelf in your booth
at the Prairie Art Fair. The next day I was showing my friends what I purchased
at the fair and the Fire When Ready mug was the hands down favorite. Comments
ranged from: “beautiful”, to “stunning,” to “gorgeous,” to “what a work of art”!
Even the coffee tastes better when drinking it from a work of art.
I’d say you’re definitely doing something right!

The Diary of My Day.
From the very start of the morning, I knew we were in for some real “fun.”

8:00am – Driving back to Schaumburg in some of the thickest fog ever!
Knowing that it was also “Bike The Drive” and thousands of people would be riding
along Lake Shore Drive in the fog!!! Glad I’m not one of them… but still not the
weather I was hoping for! Very thick. Very heavy. Very foggy. And it only got
darker as I got closer to Schaumburg!

9:00am – Setting Up… Again.
Back in my booth putting things back together. With the rain at the end of yesterday,
we had packed down most of the larger pieces. Putting them back into their crates
and putting them on the ground… just in case “anything” terrible happened overnight.
Which luckily, it didn’t. So I spent the hour putting everything back in place…
questioning if it was even worth it with a weather forecast of impending doom.

10:00am – Let The Games Begin… bring on the customers!
The show opened and there are a few customers. Typically, the “crowds” are very slow
to get started on Sundays… what with brunch & church & all. But today, there were more
people than usual at the start. My guess is they were trying to get a little shopping done
before the storms! Shop fast…

11:00am – Clouds and Wind and Thunder… oh my!
And the fun started rolling in. The winds were picking up. The clouds were moving quick.
With an ever-entertaining symphony of thunder off in the distance. Fun, huh?! And with
everyone on the smart phones, the place was abuzz with everyone’s “radar” forecast!
And then the rain started… There were many reports of the “waves” of storms coming in.
That this one would pass, then there would be another… and another… and another…

11:30am – Raining.
With the skies opening up, it was definitely time for the tents to be closing up.
But the question is “for how long?” Will the storm pass over? Or not?
My Dad checked his phone for the radar. You know how “orange” is the color for
severe thunderstorms?… well, his phone showed the pin-point for where we were…
and the rest of the entire phone screen was ORANGE!!! All orange!!! All storm!!!

12:00pm – Thunderstorms.
All tents closed… so we started “packing down” some of the bigger & more expensive
pieces. Thinking “just in case” something bad happens, at least those pieces are safe.
But as we continued the process, it was evident the storm was not stopping. So neither
did we. My Mom and I were packing everything as my Dad went to get the van. And if you
looked around the fair, we weren’t the only one packing it. It was the start of a mass exodus.

1:00pm – Packing Up and Flooding!
It was still pouring. And we’re drenched. My Dad was packing the van as we were packing
the crates in the tent.At one point, the winds picked up – gusts were blowing around. And
my Dad was stuck outside the tent holding the flaps in place to keep us dry! I know that my
tent is securely anchored into the ground, but it’s still scary when the entire structure starts
shaking, rattling, bouncing & moving. And my Dad, still holding it down. We were packing
as fast as possible as the rain was coming down in bucketfuls. It wasn’t until we started
taken the sides off the tent that we noticed the walkway just in front of my tent was flooded!
Just feet from where were still working… pack faster… flood waters rising!!!

1:45pm – Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Break.
Amazing what sort of therapeutic effects Mom’s cookies can have on you
during a torrential downpour! Luckily, we had enough to share with others too!

2:00pm – Still Packing. Still Dripping. Still Drenched.
Sounds like a fun way to spend your Sunday afternoon, huh?

3:00pm – Driving home.
Apparently, it’s not only Schaumburg that got rain! It looks like it rained everywhere!
There were sections of the drive where you had to plow right through the flooded streets!

4:00pm – Unpacking & Drying.
As if it weren’t enough fun to pack up in the rain, it’s always fun to unpack it all again!
The fun just keeps on coming! Especially this time as everything was wet. Including us.
Not soaking wet anymore, now just kind of cold & clammy! So we unpacked the van
at lightning speed as there was a break in the rain. Then I had to dry off all of my
wooden shelves so they wouldn’t warp or get funky. And now all of my tent pieces are
spread out and “drying” in my storage room! So glamorous, huh?!

5:00pm – Showered & Dry… finally.
Now wondering what I’m going to do for dinner… and I feel that I “deserve”
something really good for dinner! Ordered in, of course!

Let’s hope that everything dries in the next two weeks… Hinsdale Fine Art Fair!!!

“Your colors are scrumptious.”

Sometimes it’s the little things that customers say that make you happy.
It’s not that my color palette is all that spectacular or colorful,
but something in the saturated, earthy, orangey, browny, fire-flashy,
dark jewel-tone family must have resonated with her. As it does to me to.
My condo is all the same colors! I enjoyed hearing her excitement!

And I love eavesdropping… hearing people chat about my work,
or caress a mug while carrying it, or getting all excited by the textures & patterns.
Makes me think I must be doing something right?!

Today wasn’t so bad. Chilly. Breezy. Dry… for awhile.
And then the drizzle set in with mid-afternoon – just enough to scare away
all of the customers. Luckily, I had already had a lot of friends & fans stop by
during the “dry part” of the day, so it wasn’t all bad. It’s always great to see
so many of my “groupies” coming back out to kick-off the art fair season!
Including my niece Taylor and her huge bag of kettle corn!

A bit of fog. A little rain… and a beautiful gerbera daisy freshly “washed.”

And a quick way to show off a small bunch of small, a textured ikebana vase.
Just fill with water, stick in your flowers and voila’ – instant “beautiful.” But too pretty?
I had a LOT of people thinking that they were fake, and not understanding how the
ikebana actually works. Guess I need uglier flowers next time?!

Perfect for the season… berry bowls in two styles!

The big and the small. My largest slab vases and some miniature vases…
along with some Lily-Of-The-Valley cut fresh from my front yard garden.

One of the nice parts of the Schaumburg art fair is that they don’t pack the tents in.
They actually give each person an additional five feet of space – 10’x 15′ spaces!!!
A luxury compared to most shows. And to make the most of my additional real estate,
I showed my collection of flower pots & terra cotta planters in my “side lot.”

But by the end of the day, it was raining. And had been for awhile.
Sadly, as the rain continued… the shopping didn’t. Apparently customers melt?!
So we packed down some of the larger & more expensive items preparing for a night
of rain… and more rain. You never know what’s going to happen to your tent, and
everything inside, overnight when you’re not there. Always better to err on the side
of safety and protect some of the stuff. We called it night… knowing there would be
another day of fun tomorrow!

Now I don’t mean to gloat… and I’m sure I’m not the first…
but I’m all packed up and ready for this weekend’s art fair in Schaumburg!
Yes, two days ahead of schedule. Unheard of.

Typically, I’d be scrambling all over the place on Friday trying to do everything.
Trying to remember where I left things at the end of last season. Where’s my tent?
How many shelves do I need to take? How much is this? Where is that? Help…
Many potters have been known to be unloading a hot kiln on Friday night
still needing to cool, price & pack on just the night before the show!!! Yikes!

But instead, my parents and I tackled the storage room today and got it all together.
We’re all packed up for this weekend’s art fair in Schaumburg! Done. Packed.
In the van ready to go… and it’s only Wednesday!!! Unheard of.
Again, I’m not gloating… but I’m just sayin’..

Sure, I still have a few last minute projects to complete. A few supplies to gather.
Snack. Flowers. Signs. But it does feel great to be ready… I’ll sleep well tonight.