Just surprised the Birthday Girl in her booth at the 57th Street Art Fair. Stop by Booth 608 today or tomorrow to wish her well… and she LOVES when you sing loudly!!! Happy Birthday my talented friend Sarah Chapman!!!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Schaumburg this weekend for the Prairie Arts Festival. The weather turned out so much better than expected. It was beautiful… and such a beautiful venue. Nice trees and a pond with swans!

And I had a wonderful unexpected surprise visit from my Wisconsin biking friend Sue! Such a great weekend!!!

Spring is the perfect time for s new berry bowl. We’ve got a few sweet ones left here at the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival. It’s a beautiful day for pottery… and a stroll in the park

Just five more minutes until we “officially” open for Day Two of the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival… and we already have customers!!! C’mon over… we’re here until 5:00pm.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival. It was a great way to kick-off my art fair season. Don’t forget that the fun continues today from 10:00am-5:00pm. Lots of great pottery and a beautiful day to come play in the park! Booth #51 conveniently on the corner by the parking lot. See you later!

With just two days until the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival,
it’s my very last chance to get these birdhouses fired in time!

So with a quick coat of clear glaze on the roof tops, they’re headed into a single-fire terra cotta cone 04 kiln. Fingers crossed that they fire okay… and that they’re not still too hot to bring to the fair on Saturday!

With just a few days until the kick-off of my Summer Art Fair schedule, it’s time to start pricing & packing all of my new pots. I’ve fired four kilns in the past couple weeks – so there are a LOT of new pots!!! Well over a hundred new mugs!!!

Luckily, my parents came over today help with the slightly overwhelming project. Our goal for the day is to get everything prepped & priced, and then divided and separated into two separate piles. Each pile is designated for a different art fair. Kind of nice to have enough pots packed and ready to go for BOTH my Schaumburg and Hinsdale shows!

Nice to have this huge project done. And ready to go for both shows with a new & separate inventory for each. Even better, we also packed the van for Schaumburg… so tomorrow can be a “rest day” for all of us before we head out to Schaumburg for the weekend show.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. My first art fair is this weekend in Schaumburg…
and I’m still trying to get everything ready. The good thing is I’m unloading two more kilns tonight, and will still try to squeeze one more in. On the bad side, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for so long now that I’ve just got a puddle of wax!

The front door bricks were just taken off… and all looks good!.
Always a relief to see some good colors and nice soda flashing effects.
And to know that as you dig in and unpack the kiln it’s only going to get better!

It was also nice to see the top cone pack still intact. At some point towards the end of the firing, I lost visuals on it. The kiln was so hot, glowing orange with flames shooting out… that ot was tough to see in through the peep. I actually wondered if it had fallen off the shelf at some point?! Apparently not… but that Cone 10 did melt nice and flat, huh?!

Always fun to unpack and see what’s in-store. So many nice things that were “kissed” by the kiln flames. Beautiful blushes of colors and soda build-up. So many of these pieces will be coming with me to Schaumburg & Hinsdale for my first two art fairs. We’re just weeks away… and here’s a sneak peek of what to expect…

One of the many joys of soda firing. Some times the Kiln Gods like to give some pots a good sloppy kiss of goo. Changing their destiny forever. Luckily, this was my only “kissed” pot.

Now THAT’s a big smooch!!!

Click over to my INSTAGRAM feed to see a video of what happened to this “lovely” pot!
www.instagram.com/firewhenreadypottery – and then hit FOLLOW.

Or, even quicker, click on the QR Code…

My new Summer Art Fair postcards just arrived!!!
Now it’s time to start labeling & stamping… my first art fair
of the summer is less than two weeks away!!!