Well, since we had covered most of the Pottery Tour on Friday, we decided to head the other direction today. So we went down towards the Twin Cities to do a little more shopping. Not quite as much fun as buying pottery and meeting great potters… but still a great place to buy clay & supplies. While we were so close, I figured we should stop by for some clay, canvas and tools!

After that we went to Northern Clay Center to do a little looking around. We were greeted by a great girl at the front desk. She was exceedingly friendly & informative. She pretty much gave us a full tour right there from behind her front desk! I was equally impressed about how she encouraged us to not only shop the gallery space, but to also go back into the building to visit the other resident studio artists. And that they all have displays of their work for us to look at and purchase from as well. I think we need that kind of customer service at the font desk of Lillstreet?!… maybe then we’d actually get some people up to the second floor? Instead of just people looking for their birthday party location… or people saying “I never knew this was even up here!”

Next we swung by a friend’s home & studio in Minneapolis. Emily Murphy was one of my studio “neighbor” (and total instigator of me even starting this blog – yes, it’s all her fault) until she moved up to Minneapolis. We stopped by to visit, see her adorable daughter Ada, see her studio and pick up a box of pots that she wanted me to take back to the Lillstreet Gallery for her. Yep, so much better to save postage with hand-delivery!!! While there, she also mentioned that she had a lot of old glazes from her cone 10 soda firing days that she was looking to get rid of. And she thought of me! So the same buckets she moved from Lillstreet up to Minneapolis were now making the same trip back from Minneapolis down to my studio at Lillstreet.

After some time in Minneapolis, it was time to head up north to the Tour… well, kinda.
We made a trip to Taylors Falls, which is in between stops of the “official Tour” for a visit with the Rogue Potters. It’s a great group of potters who have pulled together in a small dilapidated farmouse with a wonderfully decrepit kiln shed. No kidding. It’s all kind of falling a part – but in a GREAT WAY. So charming & so quaint. And sure it doesn’t hurt that you’re immediately greeted by Buddy the golden lab who comes running right up to the car to say hello. So we did a little shopping and a little chatting with Randal and the rest of the Rogues. We also went back to the kiln shed to look at their wood fire kiln. So lovingly charred, crusted and well-used.

For more information about the Rogue Potters, click here for their website www.roguepotters.com or click on their LINK in the far right corner of my blog.

After our time with the Rogue Potters, we went back to the “official Tour” to re-visit a couple of our favorite studio locations. And to make more fun of my friend Steven Hill. But first, we decided to go to sculpture park that we’ve driven past for several years, but had never stopped.

You know how I LOVE reclaim clay.
It’s a little extra work for a LOT of “free” clay!!!
For those of you who might not know, “reclaiming clay” is basically taking all of your
trimmings & dried clay scraps and reconstituting them back into real, useable clay!

And since my studio is still basically clean through the holidays, I’ve been finding it tough
to really get my act together and get back into full production mode. Still on holiday?!
You know how when there’s no wet work under plastic, pieces that need to be trimmed,
or a kiln deadline approaching, it’s so easy to put things off. If you don’t get started, then
you’re not “trapped” by the calendar. I’ve been meaning to get “started” again…
but instead, I seem to be finding a lot of “little jobs” to fill my time.

Like making stamps.
Like blogging.
Like reclaiming clay.

Next, I need to finish applying to my Summer Art Fairs… and then
I may have run out of those “little jobs” and I’m going to need to start throwing again.
And I can’t wait.

So you know how much I love “free” clay?! So tonight I went to make some new work…
but my bags of reclaim were a bit too wet & squishy. And new bag of soda clay I grabbed
was a bit too hard. What to do?… mix them together of course! Instead of power wedging”,
I find it a lot quicker & easier to layer the two. I start by piling up thin layers of each clay.
You can actually see the layers of the clay when I cut the pile in half.

After cutting, you take one half and slam it down on top of the other half. Press them down
together, slam if necessary, and cut in half again. Take one half and place it on top of the
other half. Press down and squish together again. Repeat. Every time you re-pile and squish,
the number of layers doubles. Thus making the layers thinner & thinner each time.

Cut in half. Restack. Press. Squish. Repeat…. and see how the layer are getting thinner???

After cutting & layering the clay several times, the two separate layers kind of disappeared
and were ready for some wedging to finish mixing the two. Not finished wedging… just some
quick wedging to mix it all up!!! And to start thinking about what I was going to make?

Once the clay was all incorporated, wedged and ready to go…
I cut up the clay into smaller chunks and wedged them into balls for throwing.

So I threw some more “replenishment” pieces… and threw.. and threw… and threw…

So now I’ve got to get them all stamped, slipped & trimmed…
and dried so they can make it into my next bisque kiln coming up VERY soon!!!

Over the years, many people enjoyed some tasty treats at City Olive in Andersonville.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, the owner Karen decided to
move her business to Roscoe Village. Be sure to stop by for quality olive oils and other
culinary treats from around the world. You can even taste-test many of the oils before
you buy them. Don’t know much about oils?… her staff is there to teach you!

But it’s not just olive oil’s healthful properties, including high levels of beneficial
fatty acids and antioxidants, which delight City Olive’s customers time and again.
It’s also the taste, the old world allure and the bounty of delightful products that grace
City Olive’s shelves. Carrying the finest selection of olive oils from countries such as
Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Portugal, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Chile
and the United States, as well as vinegars, spices, mustards, tapenades and other gourmet
items, City Olive’s charming boutique offers the culinary best of the old & new worlds.

City Olive – Roscoe Village
2236 West Roscoe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60618 – (773) 687-9980

And very soon, City Olive will be returning to their roots in Andersonville
with a second store location just in time for the holidays!
City Olive – Andersonville
5644 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60660 – (773) 942-6424

Plus, City Olive also carries an assortment of ceramic oil pourers made by yours truly!
Luckily, they sell out pretty quickly… so I’ve got to keep making more! Especially with
the holidays coming so quickly! Stop in soon to snatch one up!

It’s Barrington Day Two… it’s already sunnier, already warmer, already less windy…
and my shelves are all replenished and ready for another fun day in the Lower Barn!
C’mon out to play – we’re here from 10:00am-5:00pm again today!

Well, after a leisurely set-up yesterday, my booth was all ready to go this morning for Day One
of “Art In The Barn.” You gotta love a good Friday set-up. It takes all of the rush & pressure
out of doing all on Saturday before the show opens. The shelves were full in my double-booth
ready for the early onslaught of customers. Unfortunately, the morning skies were dark &
blustery threatening rain… and threatening all of the tents out in the yards. Luckily, I’m
protected inside the Main Barn, so I wasn’t too concerned about the weather. But I do think
it made the show have a slow start – as it seemed like many waited for the weather to clear
before coming out to shop at the art fair. But eventually… they still came out to shop!

Yep… that’s my red ribbon to celebrate being one of last year’s Top Ten Sellers!!!
And never too soon to kick-off a little holiday cheer with some Christmas ornaments.
Right along with my whimsical take on the traditional Jack O’Lanterns.

Plus, the squared off bowls with the split rim that I showed on the blog awhile back
made their debut at the Barrington show. I was very pleased with the bowls… and even
more pleased that this set of aqua blue bowls went home with a family who really seemed
to appreciate them, noticed all of the subtle details and guaranteed me that they would
give them a good home! Always good to know your work went to good people!!!

As part of today’s “must-clean-studio-while-firing-kiln” program, I just plopped
out another huge pile of reclaim clay onto my plaster bat. This is the second half
of the scraps that Amy bequeathed to me earlier this year. Yippee – more free clay!!!

Today I made it back into the studio after my extended Dover excursion!
Before I left, I set up a huge pile of reclaim clay onto my plaster bat while I was gone.
I had expected to be gone for one week, but the “glitter gig” turned into a 2-week
project – setting up, watching bands, watching people, then packing it all up!
So I was a little concerned that the pile of reclaim clay might have dried out too much
while I was gone. I was very relieved to find the pile of clay still moist… and actually
a little bit wetter than I would like it to be. But I proceeded to tackle the mound any way!

So I started by pulling it off the plaster bat and piling it up into cubes. The clay was still
a bit gooey, so I pounded it into blocks and put them back on the plaster bat to set-up
a bit more. Glad it wasn’t a hard, dried brick… instead, it was quite the opposite!

Special thanks to my Northwoods friend Amy who gave me all this clay. Sure it was all
dried trimmings and other chunks. But after a few weeks of slaking down, I now have a lot
of wedging ahead of me… and a lot of “free” clay to make things out of it. Remember, this
was just the first half of the clay scrap I got from Amy… and it totaled out at 186 pounds
of reclaimed clay… and one used chamois hidden inside just as an added challenge!

Pile it on… pounds of possibilities! Here’s the first half of the reclaimed clay
that I got from Amy Higgason from the Northwoods. It’s been slaking down
for awhile now, and tonight I turned it out onto a large plaster bat to help it
set up a bit. The other half of her trimmings & scraps are now in my bin,
covered with water, slaking down for the next batch. My understanding is that
this is a mixture of white stoneware and B-clay. We’ll see what comes of it.

I love reclaim. I love free clay!!!

Today is going to be another day of kids wheelthrowing.
But today we switch to terra cotta… so it’s going to be a messy, messy day!