Pieces & parts… looks like Amy has a great start on her part of our collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN!!! Remember my mini cutie-patooties?… well this little handful of metal will somehow work together with them??? Can’t wait to see where she’s going with these…

So in the creative world of collaboration projects… I gave these tiny stamped & soda-fired “cutie-patooties” to metalsmith extraordinaire Amy Taylor a little while back… with the anticipation that she’ll do something really cool with them!!! I have a clue… but can’t wait to see them in-person at ART IN THE GARDEN on September 10th & 11th in Glenview!

Working on some collaboration parts & pieces… textured of course! Working on a few “things” I can share with my pal Cory McCrory as part of our collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN!!! Gotta love a good “teaser” photo…

Hard to believe that August is almost over, and September is right around the corner! Which also means that ART IN THE GARDEN is just over two weeks away! It’s a wonderful grassroots art fair in a charming setting right along a branch of the Chicago River.

Saturday, September 10th – 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, September 11th – 10:00am-5:00pm

One of the best parts of this show is that several of the artists are working on collaboration projects… working together to combine their mediums & styles. Offering one-of-a-kind pieces you won’t see at any other art fair! I know I’m working on collaborations with at least three different artists!!! Mark your calendar… we’d love to see you!!!

So every year for ART IN THE GARDEN, the artists do a bunch of fun collaboration projects for the show! Once again, I am teaming up with my pal Cory McCrory to do another fun collaboration… with my soda-fired textures & Cory’s colorful sense of whimsy!!! The big question every year is “What to do?” This year Cory came up with a new idea… and the “plan” kind of resolved itself with this plastic frame!!! More to come…

And mark you calendars now for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview, Illinois on Saturday, September 10th & Sunday, September 11th.

SHE KILLED IT AGAIN!!!

Yes, Chelsea the “Queen of Glaze” worked her magic one more time!!! This second bowl is just as stunning as that first bowl… I kinda wish I had more bowls for her to glaze! As glazing is my least favorite part of the pottery process.

So here’s Chelsea’s “recipe” that made this magic happen… 1- Galaxy Black inlaid in the carvings and wiped back. 2- dipped in Chun Blue. 3- some Coleman Apple Green on the ridges. 4- some Rutile Blue. 5- Finished with some Cohen’s Red swirled in the bottom. Of course there is not guarantee that Chelsea’s “magic” will work exactly the same way for anyone else!!!

If you want to see more of Chelsea’s glaze magic, she will also be part of the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR at the Aurora stop!

Why didn’t we think of this sooner???…
apparently coming soon to a store near you…
LET THE SEARCH BEGIN!!!

So let’s make it a game…
THE VERY FIRST PERSON TO FIND THESE
AND GET A BOX INTO MY HANDS WINS A FREE MUG!!!
Free shipping if the winner is in the contiguous USA.

It’s Underglaze Madness!!!

So we’ve seen a recent interest & surge in underglaze transfers around Lillstreet Art Center! Tons of students are starting to use these pre-made, commercial underglaze transfer sheets to add some surface decoration to their pots. We’ve had some recent discussions on whether these transfers are “cheating” or not?! I’ve also enjoyed watching some of my students trying different techniques to modify or use these transfers in different ways.

In my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, Darcy has been using a lot of underglaze transfers on her work. We’ve all sort of fallen in love with this great mandala pattern.

We’ve also been giving her a hard time… by telling her how much better they would look if the back & white mandala were painted-in with bright colors! You know, kinda like a little paint-by-number fill-in situation. Luckily, also in this class is Christine who is all about bright colors & underglazes. Sounds like the perffect match, right?!

So we keep teasing Christine that it’s HER job to paint these in… and that’s going nowhere fast. Christine is not bowing to any sort of fun peer pressure!

But then Darcy came up with a great idea… and a fun challenge. She offered to make some basic cylinders, and then let us decorate them with colorful underglazes… and then she would put the underglaze transfers OVER the colored underglazes. She offered it up to our whole class… but only Christine & I took her up on it. So we each got two cylinders to decorate as part of Darcy’s challenge!

So my thought was to sponge-paint some blended colors onto the cylinder that might “mimic” and possible align a bit with the underglaze transfer.

And Christine went a different route with her ombre’ blend of underglazes. She had chosen a different pattern for her underglaze transfer… so she wasn’t as concerned with her pattern “matching-up” with the transfer pattern. Instead she went with two different ombre’ blends.

Luckily

Luckily, Christine has a great assortment of underglazes that she has tested, tried at different firing temperatures and made amazing test tiles with. Thanks to Christine for sharing her high-fire underglazes… and for letting me use her colors for this fun little challenge!

After a couple layers of underglaze, we both called the “done” for our part of the Darcy Challenge!

And then Darcy came in later that night and added the underglaze transfers OVER our underglaze paintings! Pretty impressive… I think they look pretty great so far. Can’t wait to see what they look like after firing and a light layer of clear glaze to really make the colors pop!

Thanks for the challenge Darcy!!!
You know how much I LOVE a good challenge… and having people prove me wrong about the underglaze transfers being a way of “cheating.” I might need to reconsider when these come out of the kiln???

A few weeks before Christmas, I was contacted by the boyfriend of a good customer-friend of mine. I’ve known Allison for several years… and now her boyfriend Terry had a Christmas “plan” for Allison. He decided he wanted me to make a “custom” mug just for Allison… something… err, ANYTHING with moon & starts on it. Since his request was a little to close to Christmas, I knew I didn’t have time for a good soda-fired mug. So I had to go another route!

I decided to go for a little more whimsical approach… with some fun textured stars, colorful underglazes & a moon that rattles!!!

After it dried, I had to bisque fire it and give it a coat of glaze. In the effort of time, and my “control” over the firing schedule, I decided to go for a clear cone 6 glaze. It gave the mug a nice shine, and helped “pop” the colors!

So then Christmas came… and Allison received her surprised commission mugs! Oh yes… plural… TWO MUGS as Terry came to my studio to make one of his own for Allison too! She seems like she was totally diggin’ the “moon & starts” vibe of her gifts!

The mug that Terry made started with a wheelthrown cylinder I pre-made for him, and trimmed the bottom. He handbuilt the accents & details… with lettering that says STAR SHINE!!! After he finished his piece, I had to bisque fire it, and glaze it to his glaze choices & specifications.

Little did Terry know that Allison had pre-purchased a special mug for Terry’s Christmas Gift as well!!! She had come to my Holiday Home Shows and picked out one of my soda-fired mugs with pointy spikes on them… little tetrahedron stamps to give it a fun detail.

Looks like Allison & Terry’s mugs already have a special place of honor… joining the others on custom shelving unit for their combined Mug Collection!

So exciting to be part of a quickly-blossoming Mug Collection!!! Surrounded by some textured & colored cuties by my friend Cory McCrory… and a few I don’t recognize?!

Just dropped off two new soda-fired frames with my friend & painter Mary Foster… just finishing up one last Christmas collaboration commission before the holidays! We’ve done several “pottery & painting” collaboration pieces this year… and already discussing next year!

Considering some new options… and not to give anything away,
but I’ll give you two words… WOOD… CUT…. fingers crossed…