Okay… so entire POTTERY TOUR weekend was not perfect! Friday afternoon was not so great for me!!!

THIS happened on my drive out to Sandwich with all of my stuff!!!
On the entrance ramp from the Kennedy to 294 South…
on the side of the road by O’Hare!!! Fun, huh???

And realize … my car looks like this all packed up!!! And where is the spare tire???

Yep… you got it… UNDER ALL OF THAT!!!

So picture me on the side of the expressway unpacking my car… all over the side of the road… like a big garage sale!!! ugh. Luckily, I knew how to fix it… so I did my best. Passenger rear… so the side with the traffic flying by!!! And then packed it all back in!!!

However… who knew the real tire doesn’t fit in the same space as the spare tire?!!! So the only place it would fit was ON TOP with the other stuff?!!! Even more like the Beverly Hillbillies!!!

Not a good start. Luckily, Cory’s son Aidan took it to be fixed
on Saturday for me during the show!!!

Aidan to the rescue!!!

This weekend at the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival, a “few” of my ceramic fortune cookies “may have” fallen off my cart as I was packing up! Ten textured fortune cookies to find out in the park… and here are the clues to find them! Thanks to my art fair friends Rhonda & Maria for helping me “locate” the cookies. Happy searching!!!

Last night in my SURFACE DECORATION class, I challenged my students to several fun glazing tasks. No one “really” likes glazing… so my goal was to make it more fun by trying new things on cylinders that I made ahead of time for them! So they wouldn’t be “sacrificing “ their own pieces… giving them no emotional attachment to the piece… allowing them to have some fun while glazing! Can’t wait to see their results!!!! More to come …

A little early morning throwing. Just a few quick cylinders with a plan in mind.
Another 10×10 challenge… more than ten pieces thrown before 10:00am!!!

During the previous class session, my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class saw some amazing ceramic baskets in the Lillstreet Cafe’ Gallery by studio member Jennifer FitzGerald. We had a quick discussion of clay baskets & some basic construction techniques. Then this session, one of my students asked for a class “challenge”… so I suggested we all make our own versions of the baskets they were so enamored by the session before. While I channeled my inner “Mudweaver” while making this basket… my students realized it was a a LOT harder than they thought. While still inspired, none of them finished their baskets by the end of the session!

Be sure to check-out more of Jennifer’s beautiful work & give her a “Follow” on Instagram – @mudweaver_ceramics

Another night of Bingo Fun at IKEA!!! Always fun to play with friends… free games with IKEA prizes!!! Sure, I haven’t won anything yet, but you can’t win if you don’t keep playing, right???

And there “may” have been a little shopping afterwards too! Allegedly…

Such a FANTASTIC group of students this session for my Lillstreet Throwdown class! Hard to believe this was my “season seven” of teaching this fun class! They all did such an amazing job. Always so creative, always focused & willing to take on any challenge I presented them with. They were all forced out their comfort zones… and seriously rose to the occasion! And yet always laughing & encouraging each other. Such great class camaraderie!!! They’re the best… they are the CHAMPIONS!!!

My apologies to Barb in advance… somehow I missed getting a good headshot photo with her ribbons! My bad.

The Final Challenge!!! Earlier in the session I tasked my students to create a full tea set based on a famous Fairy Tale. They had to make a teapot, two cups & saucers, a sugar & a creamer and a tray to hold them all together! That’s a LOT of parts & pieces… and the very first teapot build for most of them!!! Last night was the “Big Reveal” and they came out AMAZING!!! So much creativity & craftsmanship. So proud of them all. I just wish we would have had time to get them all glazed… as we decided for scheduling reasons that bisque-fired was good enough for last night. Huge congrats to them all… and THANKS for playing along with my pottery games!!!