Here we go…. the second month… February… second of twelve…
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me &  four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
We’re two months in… one sixth of the way!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory embraces our second month of ornaments with a wonderful batch of textured & constructed ornaments. They’re amazing so far!!! And I LOVE them… so I’m sorry, but there may not be any of these left to share with anyone else after I buy them all from Cory!!!  Ha!!!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
This month, Sarah takes a more “natural” approach with a beautiful stone and “twig.”
Some stylized wire-work and voila… another beautiful ornament by Miss Chapman.
I’m sure this one will really glisten in the sun… or Christmas lights?!

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta continued her love affair with porcelain & carving. Her ornaments could make a beautiful Christmas Constellation if you promised someone the “moon and stars.”

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy takes another spin on her already popular ADORBS Collection…
this time looking forward to Spring with that one ADORB-able eye!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME!!!
And for my February ornament, I’ve been making some porcelain snowflakes. The stamping is giving them a sort of knit texture. I’m hoping to glaze them with a clear glaze that will make them shine with a very slight cool blue hue.

So there they are… the ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

And oh, but wait there’s more!!!
Remember, the ceramic folks have a little tougher time actually finishing their ornaments due to kiln firing schedules. So we’re frequently posting the dried greenware versions monthly. And then, once they get glazed & fired, I’ll post the “finished” results here too.

Like this one… a few finished January beauties from Cory McCrory!!!

One of my favorite pieces of rusty metal. This beautifully carved shovel creates such great shadows on my dining room wall. Beautiful artwork by New Orleans artist Denice Bizot.

For more rusty shovels and other beautiful things, click here for Denice’s website.

My friend Nancy had an opening tonight in the gallery of ClaySpace in Lisle, Illinois.
“A Feast of Bowls”... just bowls, nothing else. But bowls of all sizes & uses.

It was several years ago that Nancy and I were on a bike ride in southern Indiana when we stopped for lunch. While walking around Nashville, Indiana we stumbled upon a small potter’s studio. It was then that Nancy suggested we take a pottery class. She did the research and found Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago. We both took our Beginning Wheelthrowing class… and have never looked back. So it’s all HER fault that I now have this crazy clay addiction!!!

Anyway, enough about me… Nancy took some time off from clay to get married, have a kid and move to the suburbs. But is now back in full swing as a Resident Artist at ClaySpace in Lisle. It was fun to go out there tonight to support a good friend, see her beautiful bowls and explore another ceramic studio space.

“A Feast Of Bowls” runs through the end of the month if need a new bowl or two!

Click here for more of Nancy’s pottery.

Okay, so you know how I love a good tie-dye.
So many of my old t-shirts have been “rejuvenated” by a good summer camp tie-dying. So much fun. But this video definitely makes me think I need to step up my game. Must learn how to do this technique. The end result is well worth the wait.

Click here for the amazing tie-dye video.

And while we’re on craftsmanship & skill… here’s another video that’s quite mesmerizing. I know I’ve posted it before, but I’m still entranced. I think this is done with colored slip, or maybe colored sand on the wheel… but I suggest we all try the same “trick” on the next platter we make. Get ready Tuesday night class… this week we cover slips, and the next week plates & platters. Dangerously groovy combination apparently?!!! Get ready.

Click here for the spinning, spiraling, evolving and ever-changing video!

And a second one…. on the video there’s a title, but I can’t read it?!

And then a third… and another title in another language… Russian maybe?

Okay, so I’m not a woodworker. But I do appreciate the intrinsic craftsmanship & skill that goes into this. He makes it look so easy…. which I’m sure it is not. Just wait until you see the final result. Especially when he puts on the final layer of oil. Voila. A masterpiece in wood.

Click HERE to watch the amazing video.

And then a bunch of MAGIC happens in this part… and then the Big Reveal.
Click here to see the MAGIC on the video!

Well, here’s The Challenge… we’re doing it again!!!
Three years ago Sarah Chapman and I did the Challenge – just the two of us.
It was a tough task to come up with twelve new & different ornaments. One each month. Keeps you on your toes… and we were looking for another challenge to keep us going this year. We struggled with new project ideas. And finally decided to stick with the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. But to mix it up this time, we’ve invited three of our other Talented Friends to join in on the Challenge!!!

So, this time around, we have five artists playing our silly little reindeer games. Three ceramic artists and two metalsmiths. The challenge is to make a new holiday ornament each month. Each group has different “struggles.” It’s easier for the ceramic folks to make multiples, but tougher to get them done, fired & glazed in time to post… so you’ll be seeing a lot of greenware ornaments. Finished glaze photos to come as pieces are finished. Whereas the metalsmiths work with materials that are generally more expensive than clay. So they may only make one or two… and in some cases, maybe not even in metal?!

So there will be a few “challenges” within the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. And we’ll see how this plays out over the course of the year. Hopefully everyone will keep up with it. I’ll post them here on the blog, as well as on my pottery Facebook page. I plan on making multiples of all of mine… so I’ll have plenty to sell at the Holiday Home Shows!!!

So here we go…. the first month… January… first of twelve…
and your first glimpse at the five “Talented Friends” taking on The Ornament Challenge!
Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I have quite a crush & quite the collection of Cory’s whimsical pieces. She is an amazing handbuilder using paper clay. Her pieces include a lot of textures, colors, and humor. I can’t wait to see these ornaments glazed in bright colors. You know I’m going to need one for my tree… okay, well at least one!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
An amazing metalsmith and good friend, Sarah is known mostly for her oxidized silver jewelry with an urban-architectural-textured flair. I have quite the collection of Sarah’s work as well. And since we did this challenge together three years ago, I was interested to see where she would take it this time. Looks like she’s going back to her childhood with some traditional “paper cut-out” snowflakes. Except they’re no longer just for paper…

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta is known for her exquisite carved porcelain pods, urchins and other organic forms. So it’s not a big surprise that her first ornament in the Challenge is miniature versions of her pods. I love them. So sweet. So precious…. and I can’t wait to see where she goes to from here.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
What?… no hinges??? Taking a spin from her already popular ADORBS Collection, Amy came in with an ADORBS-able ornament to celebrate the New Year. I have an ADORBS necklace, and my niece Taylor has an ADORBS necklace that she refers to as her “good luck charm.” Since everyone loves their ADORBS… let’s keep the lovin’ going with an ornament version. And I love how that one green eye totally matches the tree!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME!!!
I’m the fifth artist partaking in the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. My ornament for January is a porcelain stamped Christmas Tree. My plan was to glaze it green, but now I’m considering making it a White Christmas after all. For more about my January ornaments… just read the blog post right before this one!

Look what came in the mail the other day… WHOO-HOO!!!

The BEST pottery weekend get-away of the year!!! Mark your calendars now.
Friday, May 6th… Saturday, May 7th.. and Sunday, May 8th, 2016.

It’s always over Mother’s Day Weekend in the St. Croix Valley area just north of Minneapolis. There are seven pottery studio locations in the area. Each with a host potter and a collection of talented friends. 57 potters in total. So many pots. So much fun!!!

It’s always a great time to drive around, visit all of the studios and chat with the artists. I’ve become friends with a few of them over the years. And always end up coming home with more pottery than I had planned on buying. How can I be expected to stop when there is incredible work everywhere you stop?!!! Unfortunately, I’m not one of the “chosen” potters invited to the Tour… dare to dream, right??? I’m thinking “write-in-campaign” ???

NEW THIS YEAR!!! So excited that one of my favorite potters is joining the tour this year as one of the Visiting Artists. I’ve admired Julia’s work for many years… and attended three of he workshops!!! Not quite a pottery stalker, but close.

For more about the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour, click here.
For more about Julia Galloway’s work, click here.

So I saw a pretty great video on Facebook. I don’t do a lot of painting on my own work… but I can tell that this is pretty impressive. I love the attention-to-detail and manual dexterity. Love the patterns & designs. And I’m TOTALLY intrigued by the “glazing with a pastry bag” technique shown here. Pretty cool.

Click here for the video on Facebook.
Unfortunately, the page is originally in Arabic and I can’t find an artist reference?!

Here’s a great time-lapse video of a very large pot from start to finish. From throwing the base, building it up layer by layer, a coating of slip and then some pretty impressive carving. I love to watch people working. And apparently these large, beautifully decorated pots are the hallmark of North Carolina potter Kate Johnston. Her work looks incredible… might just “need” to make the trip down to Seagrove soon for all of its pottery riches!!!

And a quick side-note to my students…
We will NOT be using blow torches in class!!! Just sayin’…

Click here for the video on Facebook.
And click HERE to see more works by Kate Johnston of Seagrove, North Carolina.

And done… for now anyways. I’m sure there is still some glazing to come?!