There’s a lot of “crazy” going on in the Rogers Park neighborhood just north of me.
A lot of colorful characters & colorful art everywhere you look.
One of my favorites is this house painted with a full leopard skin pattern!
Too funny… and I’m sure their neighbors must be thrilled!!!

Every summer, a small section of rural Bristol, Wisconsin transforms back to the olden days in the 1500’s. Inhabited by hundreds of people in full costume reenacting the merry days of the Medieval times. Of course there are the rest of us “normal” people there to enjoy some revelry, some jousting and some just good-ol’ people watching!!! Well, today was the last day of the “show” and the crazy cast of characters were everywhere!!!

For those of you who may never have been to a Renaissance Faire… it’s a big festival full of everything needed to take you back to the Renaissance times! There are authentic buildings throughout, bands of strolling musicians, artisans & craftsmen, performers, jousters, food booths and of course, the Royal Family and their full entourage. Many people are in full costume, all trying their best to “stay in character.”

Throughout the Faire, you will frequently run across a “pop-up” performance of singers or dancers. Kind of like a Medieval Flash Mob. I’m always amazed at how they are all SO into it. Never breaking character. Always being authentic. Even when “normal” people like us are just standing there gawking at them… and taking pictures!!!

One of my favorite parts is finding all of the “characters” who inhabit the lands. So many in full costume. Always in character. Interacting with the crowd. “Living” at the Renaissance Faire. My favorite character every year is the “Spider Lady.” She weaves her web throughout the summer and it becomes a large string “installation piece” that people can walk through & add things to. She continues to work on it, and encourages kids to help her decorate the string web. She’s so sweet with everyone… without ever saying a word.

Throughout the park you continue to run across other characters… all of them interacting with the public, entertaining the crowd while having a great time themselves!

Okay… so some of the “public” comes in costume as well. Quite a few actually.  Although not everyone quite gets the time period. Not everyone maintains a sense of appropriateness. Not everyone realizes that “any costume” doesn’t fit in just because it’s a costume?! Somehow “steampunk” has now been added to the mix? As well as wolves, vampires and even Little Red Riding Hood??? Although I must admit that this merry trio were one of my favorites… The Knights Of The Round Keg.

And let’s just say… not everything is pretty. Some people take it one step too far. Some “characters” decide to push the envelope a bit… I’m not quite sure how this one fits in thematically, but it was well done & pretty darn creepy!

There’s a LOT of people who come to the Renaissance Faire in costume. And some that rent or purchase costumes while they’re there. There’s typically a LOT of skin showing. A LOT of chain maille. A LOT of cleavage spilling out over the corsets.

And some are just a LOT… a lot of wrong!!!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist… yeah, I know it’s mean. But seriously!

One of the favorite shows every year is “The Mud Show.” Three guys who play in the mud, jump in the mud, even eat the mud. They get the crowd all riled up and then pan-handle & beg to get some cash from the crowd. And they get a LOT of cash!!! Very funny… every time!

At the other end of the park, the jousting ring offers several performances throughout the day.

We decided to go to the last performance of the day which was “Joust To The Death.” And apparently they weren’t kidding?! Jousting, swordplay and a little more blood than I expected! Our “blue knight” didn’t quite survive the battle!

But my favorite part every year is “Vegetable Justice.” I could sit there for hours!!! The concept is simple… a guy in the stockade slings insults at the person PAYING REAL MONEY to throw tomatoes at him! The guy in the box is brilliant. Very quick. Very witty. Very funny. And only once in awhile a tad inappropriate… which just makes funnier!

Even the little kids can get into the fun…

No matter what insults are hurled… you can’t say that everyone wasn’t forewarned!

Today I assembled some new mini “pitcher” creamers. The cylinders are thrown, and then I added some textured pieces here & there to finish them off. Some quick handles… and then they’re back under plastic wrap for the night. I like to keep my work under plastic overnight so that handles & handbuilt add-on’s have a chance to balance out moisture levels with the cylinders before they start to dry together!

Special thanks to my friend Cory McCrory for the “pitcher” creamer inspiration. She never ceases to amaze me with her boundless whimsy & creativity. I’ve loved the black & white pitcher of hers in my “Cory Collection.” So much so that I had to do my own variation on a theme!

Generally, I’m not a fan of the Chicago Air & Water Show.
It just gets in the way of my bike riding with millions of yahoos all over “my” lakefront bike trail. But I must admit that seeing this bit of clever up in the sky today did make me laugh out loud.

Who are we kidding?… I love “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
One of my all-time favorite movies… and I’ve always thought there should have been a sequel. Ferris stuck in a cubicle in Corporate America and ready for yet another “Day Off.”

Awhile back, I did a blog post about one of my students who was interested in adding some text to her pottery. She started using pasta letters… simply squishing them into the moist clay before bisque firing. Click here to revisit the original post on “Tracey’s Letters.”

Well, a lot of people have been asking for a follow-up… and here are some of Tracey’s glazed pots with “pasta-text” on them. After bisque firing, Tracey fills in the letters with glaze and then wipes the top surface away… leaving the glaze only in the letter indentations. This letter technique has been working well for her, especially with the dark “Stoneware With Ochre” clay body that fires up to a dark, yummy chocolate brown.

One of my returning students came in this session and said she wanted to focus on words & typography. She ended up with this great trick of using letter pasta! She presses the pasta into the moist clay. And burns them out in the bisque firing to literally put her voice into her pots… or in this case, Kenny’s voice!!!

Ya’ gotta love the organization… wioth the perfect containers in the perfect box. And then each containers holding letters that are pre-separated. I would expect nothing less form a good Montessori School teacher.

And here’s her mug… ready for any “Gambler” in the family!

Just saw this on the Internet and had to share…
It’s a pretty cool, time-lapse video of potter Charan Sachar doing some fun slip trailing. Each on their own is not too intricate. Not too difficult. It’s a technique that I’ve done before, and showed my students how to do as well. But it’s the ease, clarity and consistency that he shows off in the video… again… and again… and again… it’s almost dizzying!

Click here to see the time-lapse video of Charan Sacher.

And then, it looks like they’re glazed & fired to finish them off… like most pots! But it’s the geometric patterns and slightly raised slip decorations that give them a pop of fun! And now I somehow feel like I need to go get a henna tattoo?!

Sure, I’ve been there many times.
I’ve stopped to take pictures at this exact spot many times!
I’ve sat on these rocks. Enjoyed a sunrise. Looked at the lighthouse.
For years.

But today for the first time ever…
I saw this great little running man graffiti along the lakefront.
Kinda like a flip-book of graffiti… with the little jogger painted every 10-feet or so.

You know I loves me a good sunrise… and a beautiful sunset ain’t too shabby either.
So I was kind of excited when I saw these “manipulated” photographs online today.
Apparently, there’s some sort of time-lapse, exposure, layering & stacking going on?!

As seen on Colossal.com…
Living on the shore of Lake Ontario, just east of Toronto, photographer Matt Molloy has daily encounters with brilliant sunsets and cloudscapes that he’s been photographing for over three years. One day he began experimenting with time-lapse sequences by taking hundreds of images as the sun set and the clouds moved through the sky. Molloy then digitally stacked the numerous photos to reveal shifts in color and shape reminiscent of painterly brush strokes that smeared the sky. You can learn more about his “timestack” technique over at Digital Photo Magazine.

As quoted from Matt Molloy himself: “Made from 500 photos, this is the first sunset time-lapse I tried the stacking method with. I was surprised with the outcome, but even more so with the feedback. It wasn’t long before it went viral. I was getting lots of emails, some asking questions about the technique and others hoping to share it on their website or blog. Milky Way Scientists shared it on their Facebook page, and it got 12,000 likes and 4,000 shares on the first day it was up. I was blown away!”

Click here for more images by Matt Molloy.
Click here for a “tutorial” on the process from Digital Photo Magazine.