One good thing about this morning’s Winter sun…
it totally hit the stained glass in my dining room in just the right way! A great
“art-fair-trade” with stained glass artist Richard Diens of Goodwood Stained Glass Studio.

Tonight was the opening reception for “Sense Of Scale” at Lillstreet Art Center.
Celebrating the work of four inspired metalsmiths – and the beautiful work they make in metal.
Whether it’s sculptural pieces or wearable art, they are all wonderful beauties!

Of course, my favorite metalsmith Sarah Chapman was one of the celebrated artists!
Always making beautiful pieces, it was great to see her work on a larger scale – creating a textured metal constellation piece with beautiful insets of stitched stones & pearls. Additionally, the smaller glass cases had many of her jewelry pieces on display. For more of Sarah Chapman‘s beautiful work, click here for her website.

Sure, the installation grouping is wonderful. But the real beauty is in the details.
Textures. Colors. Architectural designs.

The second metalsmith was Darlys Ewoldt. I’ve seen here around Lillstreet, especially during Summer Camp working with the kids. I must admit that I was unaware of her larger, sculptural works. Her large sculptures were amazing. Great swirling movement and beautiful patina colors. For more of Darlys Ewoldt‘s work, click here for her website.

Sculptural crocheted wire pieces by Heejin Hwang were hanging from the wall & ceiling. Heejin was an Artist In Residence last year at Lillstreet, and is now teaching classes. I love the “hollow” volume of each, and even more, the “shaggy” layers of metal pieces at the top. For more information on Heejin Hwang‘s work, click here for her website.

One of my “crazy” favorites is the sculptural works of Stacey Lee Webber. She was also a Lillstreet Artist-In-Residence a few years back. Everyone was quickly enamored with her quirky style and use of everyday metal objects to create her unique works of art. Coins. Screws. Pennies. In fact… she once constructed a full-size ladder out of copper pennies!!! But I digress… for more of Stacey Lee Webber‘s work, click here for her website.

Like this wonderful bouquet made of screws… whether bundled together…
or flattened out to become the petals of the flowers!

Chain link necklaces made of copper pennies… or gold-plated screws!

Or a large installation piece dripping with chains made of coins… AFTER the faces have been cut out of each coin. YES – ACTUAL REAL COINS!!! So the chain of coins is draped on the left… and the Presidential coin heads on the right!!!

All in all, a wonderful show opening tonight at Lillstreet. It was great to see some of our favorite metalsmiths show off their larger “sculptural” style… along with their smaller jewelry pieces. Be sure to stop by Lillstreet to see this fantastic metal show.

“Sense Of Scale: Metal Sculpture and Wearable Art” through March 2, 2014.

I’ve always loved flip books.
I’ve always been enthralled by pop-up books.
I’ve always been fascinated by paper cut-out shadow books.

So imagine my surprise & excitement when I found these incredible books online today. They’re amazing! So much detail. So much creativity. I would LOVE to see a few of these in person. They’ve got to be AMAZING!!!

As seen at Colossal online…
This fun set of paper books was created by Japanese graphic designer and architect Yusuke Oono who conceived the idea as a clever way to illustrate scenes from individual stories in three dimensions. The 40-panel books are laser cut from paper and assembled into a booklet that can be viewed page by page or fanned out as a sort of layered diorama of silhouettes. You can see dozens of additional views from each book right here.

Seems like so long ago… but “The Cup Song” was huge last summer!
All of my summer campers were tapping plastic cups & clapping all summer.
And now this version is floating around the Internet… a new Irish Gaelic version of
“You’re Gonna Miss You When I’m Gone” with 600 kids hand-popping their cups!
It’s a great video, and a beautiful version of the catchy little ditty!

Click here for the fun-loving Irish Gaelic, cup-popping, hand-clapping video.

And for those of you who live in a bubble and have never seen the original “Cup Song” video, or the movie “Pitch Perfect”, click here for the original movie video clip.

And if you would like to learn how to do it yourself… click here for a video tutorial.

One of my customers “found” Santa in his house and decided to send my a quick picture of him. A festive red hat with some white fur lining can make one of my ceramic masks look jollier than ever! Thank you George for sharing your holiday spirit with me!

This is kind of amazing…
in an oddly simple, old-school, and yet I’m sure not-so-easy-to-do kind of way!
Pretty impressive. Makes me want to start “spinning” more bowls to see what shows up!!!
Click here for the video!

For several years it was so hard to find a good apron to keep the clay off my clothes while I was throwing. So my Mom and I sat down and designed a new apron that would do what I wanted it to do. First off, the lower section splits into two panels to cover each leg as you sit down at the wheel. There are patch pockets on the back of each hip to keep your phone safe & clean. The straps actually go over the shoulders, instead of around the neck, to avoid neck strain & fatigue. There are three different buttoned height adjustments, as well as three buttoned width adjustments. So the aprons are “one size fits all”… for the most part. My Mom started making them for me, and then we sold a few to my friends. Over the years, she has made quite a small little “business” for herself making these pottery aprons!

Here is my friend & potter Greg Schultz throwing a large pot on the wheel…
and keeping his clothing clean all at the same time!

So there are a few currently in the apron inventory. I have them for sale in my studio at Lillstreet, and they will be making an appearance at my Holiday Home Show next weekend.

APRON A – From the “Eclectic Collection”, a patchwork mix of earthtone patterns & textures.

APRON B – From the “Eclectic Collection”, a striped patchwork with assorted pattern accents.

APRON C – Navy blue with a small pattern of green, red & light blue across the apron.

APRON D – A blue “denim” background with some printed patterns in yellows, reds & greens.

APRON E – A cool mint green apron with whimsical butterflies flying across the apron.

APRON F – A clean, geometric stripe with red, oranges & yellows.
SOLD : to one of my former students & now Lillstreet Monitor Chuck!

APRON G – A mind-bending pattern of black & white.

APRON H – A retro-vibe with a musical flair!

APRON I – I’m seeing spots before my eyes… bright pops of color on a blue background.
SOLD : to my friend & potter Emily Murphy up in Minneapolis!

Last night I was one of the Judges for the Costume Contest at Navy Pier.
The annual event draws quite a crowd of people vying for the big prizes. During the day they had the kid’s Costume Contest… but I was busy making my own little Minion’s costume. So I could only be there to judge the adult costumes. The Family Pavilion at Navy Pier was packed with people, costumes & excitement.

The fun started right off the bat with Heinrich the emcee for the night! Apparently, he’s also part of the Navy Pier Crew. But he got the party started with his outlandish get-up!

There were so many fun costumes, and some not so great. And it was my job, along with two other Judges, to decide which one would be the top three costumes! Of course I was looking for creativity & sense of humor. And a commitment to a complete look from top to bottom. Plus, my personal preference is for someone who actually makes their own costume instead of just buying one from a store! So here’s a few contenders…

BABY ON BOARD…

THE ADULT VENDING MACHINE…

THE GRIM REAPER…

FOURSOME??? – Unfortunately for them, I didn’t quite get the connection… or theme?…

Third Place – THE INVISIBLE MAN

Second Place – GRETA GREMLIN from the movie “Gremlins 2”

He put in a huge amount of work on this! From the huge false eyelashes to the glittering red lips. The bedazzled stiletto heels. Not to mention the incredible handpainted body makeup from head to toe! Amazing.

And for those of you who never saw “Gremlins 2″… here’s movie Greta’s headshot…

Everyone wanted to get into the act… including one of Navy Pier’s head honchos Jen!

First Place – and the winner of round-trip airplane tickets… THE GARGOYLE.

All three of us Judges appreciated that the entire piece was handmade. That she had used so many different pieces & parts, so many textures, so many details. Not only the Gargoyle with extending wings, the claws, the teeth, the parapet of “stone.” Everything was created just for this. No store purchase mask here. We loved it. And so did the crowd watching.

And here’s my favorite part… that she had worked so hard on all of the details…
but left one small part “undecorated.” Too funny… and obviously homemade!!!

So here they are all together, the three top winners! Celebrating their Halloween victories!!!

And at the end of the night, I decided to celebrate my own little “victory” with a stop at one of my very favorite spots at Navy Pier. A little congratulatory snack for a busy day of Halloween fun!

Yesterday I got together with my niece Taylor to make her Halloween costume. She decided a few months back that she wanted to be a Minion from “Despicable Me.” Now I know that “Despicable Me 2” was all the rage with the pre-teen crowd this past summer. But I must admit that I missed that one. So I had to do a little research to make sure we got all of the details correct. So for the rest of you who also missed The Minions… here they are…

With so many Minions, so little time… we had to decide which Minion she wanted to be.
Of course, it was every kid’s favorite… the one-eyed one of course!!!

So I went out to my sister’s house early yesterday for a yummy “planning” breakfast, followed by shopping for costume parts & pieces. After gathering all of our supplies, it was back to their house to build a Minion. But when we got back to their house, I was greeted by a small family surprise birthday party!!! Yes, apparently my “Birthday Month” continues with more fun & parties!!!!

After we chatted, opened presents and ate party foods, it was back to my Minion!!! Some foam sheeting, some styrofoam balls & wreaths and a bunch of yellow fabric! And we’re off... into Minion Madness!!!

And my very-trusting niece Taylor was inside as I cut the mouth open… right where her face was. And yes, we were EXTRA careful. Grandma, of course, was sitting there cringing with every poke & snip!

With some pipe cleaners for hair, we were getting close to completion…

A few final touches… like getting the overalls to stay in place on her lack-of-shoulders!

And here it is… the final Minion!!!

So we had Taylor put on her overalls, shoes, yellow shirt, gloves and the Minion!
Then it outside for a quick photo shoot. She loved it – and I was surprised how tall it made her look! She’s normally shorter than the fireplace!

If you look closely, you can even see Taylor’s little nose poking out of the mouth.

Mission accomplished. Minion accomplished.
And here’s Taylor de-Minioned… but still excited & ready to wear her costume on Halloween!

For breakfast, Pam and I went out and asked the Concierge to recommend a breakfast restaurant. He suggested a place down the street called “Hell’s Kitchen”… no relation to Gordon Ramsay. The food was incredible… but I especially like the chandelier hanging over the stairs made with knives & meat cleavers!!!