While in Dover, Delaware recently for the “glitter gig” meeting, I had the chance to
tour the Dogfish Head Brewery. They’re one of the sponsors for another large event
we’re working on for this summer. I love factory tour. Love seeing how things are
made. And this time was no exception!

Dogfish Head Brewery is located in Milton, Delaware. Somewhere between Dover
and Rehoboth Beach. And when you pull up to their headquarters, the first impression
is a great one. Not only to they have an incredible treehouse in the front yard, but it’s
all made out of RUSTY METAL!!!… which you know it’s my favorite!!!

Once inside, you’re quickly greeted by a very friendly receptionist… and a lot of whimsical
artwork all over the place. And one pair of chatty blue jeans!!!

Your tour typically starts in the “Tasting Room” where you’re also surrounded by a lot
of Dogfish Head paraphernalia. Including these really great beer barrel tables – with
really great tops made from broken & recycled beer bottles!

And then the factory tour begins. You get to see where the beer is made!
I was amazed at how shiny & clean the entire place was. Now I know that it has to be
for health & safety reasons. But seriously…. shiny silver piping & vats everywhere!!!

Even the “hot-water-pressure-steaming-sanitizing” contraption is shiny…
and has a wonderfully whimsical name! Things are sure getting steamy in there!

Around every corner, there’s artwork, creativity & whimsy everywhere you look!
Including this incredible wall plastered with their own “branded” oval coasters…
creating their own Dogfish Head logo!

So not only to they have great “energy”… but it’s also refreshing to see how they value
artists and their artwork. All around the building, the walls are covered with artwork
created & submitted by local artisans who have sent them to Dogfish Head. Plus, every
year the folks at Dogfish Head commission an artist to create original posters for their
different branded beer flavors. Here are just four of them…

So there’s my quick visual tour. While the whole “beer thing” is completely lost on me…
I do still enjoy a good factory tour. But even more importantly, you know how I LOVE
creativity, whimsy and people who admire, appreciate and encourage the arts!!!

Here’s a fun game of color-matching. It’s addictive. Be careful.
Just click your cursor on the small circle on the big color ring. Then move it around
to “match” the center color before time runs out. You get a lot of chances…
matching hue, saturation, complementary, analagous, triadic and tetradic.
Who knew there could be so many colors to match?! Have fun!!!

Click here for the game… COLOR.

And for those “Les Miserables” fans who can’t quite make it to the theater today…
here’s a great video where one guy sings all the parts, in all of the voices, of the best songs
from the best musical ever. It’s kinda long, but well worth it.

For some reason, I just kept thinking it’s the “Brady Bunch” meets “Les Miz.”

Click here for the video – “One Man “Les Miserable” Medley.”

I found this online and had to share…
Looks like entire cities are getting more and more excited about DIY Christmas trees.
Last year Kaunas in Lithuania had one made from 32.000 recycled bottles and this year
a Belgian town called Hasselt put up a 30-foot high Christmas tree, made from 5,000
porcelain plates. The plates were brought by around 3,000 residents of the town,
which symbolically titles itself as the Capital of Taste.

The idea was presented and implemented by Inge Vanluyd and Stefan Vanbergen from
Belgian company mooz. “At home we all have odd plates and cups which just don’t go
with anything and as a consequence never find their way out of the cupboard. We
noticed that friends and family also had ‘spare’ plates hanging around the house. This
was enough to get us thinking about a creative destination for these everyday objects,”
explain the creators.
Kinda want to make one of my own now…

This year, at ART DETOUR, we all decided it would be funny of we all did a challenge.
If we all made something with a theme. Something to push us to think outside the box.
So we all decided to “Put A Bird On It.” So each of decided to make a piece with a bird on it.
Pretty obvious, huh?! But why a bird?… click here to watch the video clip!

So I made three different pieces, each with a bird on it. I just wanted to make sure that
I would end up with at least one good one to take with for the challenge. And I took the
challenge quite literally. I made a piece as I normally would… then I put a bird on it!!!

This one “flew the coop” to one of Amy’s Northwoods friends…

This one came home with me… but will “migrate” to the Holiday Home Show!!!

This third one was part of the ART DETOUR Silent Auction. Each of the artists put their
challenge piece in a special tent for customers to bid on them. A portion of the proceeds
went to the Northwoods Wildlife Center. This piece “flew” all the way to Morton, Illinois
to the lucky high bidder!!!

Apparently there’s something new out there that I need to try?!
My cousin Kim knows of my addiction… and saw this at the Wisconsin State Fair!
Everything’s better when it’s deep-fried, right?! And on a stick too!!!

I’m sure some of you may be wondering what is the “glitter gig”???
I refer to these cool projects I get to work on, show a few photos now & again,
but have never really discussed the “glitter gig” in detail. So here goes…

In addition to pottery, teaching, summer camps, biking and everything else…
I am also the Creative Director of a special events & production company in Chicago.
It all started about ten years ago when a fellow potter friend of mine asked if I wanted
to work a couple days down at Navy Pier decorating a few Christmas trees for
Winter WonderFest. Of course I said yes, who am I to turn down a paying job?!
So I decorated a few trees, organized a lot of ornaments and unknowingly,
worked my way into a wonderful job position! Over the years, everyone at the studio
could tell when I was working on holiday projects as I would show up covered in glitter.
Hence the name… the “glitter gig.”

So now, a few years later, I’m the Creative Director… which means I get to design
really cool parties & events. We’ve done some really fun parties for individuals, holidays,
corporate events and so much more! We do a lot of projects around the Chicago area,
but occasionally get to do a “gig” outside of Chicago. I’ve been to Grand Rapids, Las Vegas,
and now Dover, Delaware for some really cool events! I get to come up with cool ideas,
doodle, brainstorm themes, sketch, design, shop, work with fun clients and put together
pretty incredible thematic events & parties.

I never planned on working with a special events company.
I never even applied for the job, or even looked for a job.
It just kind of happened.
It hits so many of my skill sets and I get to be creative every day!
So that’s the “glitter gig” in a nutshell.

Today was another fun day at Summer Camp. It was Tie-Dye Thursday…
and you know how I loves me some groovy tie-dye!!!

Make some popcorn… set the DVR… cuddle up on the sofa…
for my big television debut on HGTV’s “Great Rooms With Meg.”
Airing this Saturday, June 16th at 8:00pm Central time.

Now sure, this isn’t my first television exposure… not to gloat, but I was on WGN’s
Bozo’s Circus when I was a little kid. And, not only was I on the show… I played the
game at the end when they would have a group of kids all playing the game. The challenge
was for me a my partner to stack cups & saucers on the flat end of a baseball bat. I held the
bat, and she stacked the cups & saucers… tallest stack a the end of the game wins!
Well, let me just say I was suddenly the proud owner of big prize…
a View-Master 3-D ‘Scooby-Doo’ Slide Projector!!!

But I digress…

Back to the real show… get ready to watch my “20-seconds of fame” this Saturday on HGTV.
I did a special project for them for a kitchen remodeling show they were doing. I made the
pieces and they came into my studio to do some filming of Meg and me. We did almost five
hours of filming… but I’m confident all of “my best work” will be left on the cutting room floor!
I’m sure they’ll craft all the pieces together to make a great show. I’m confident… or…
The editors thought it would be fun to see me all sweaty, flustered and rambling on like an
idiot on screen. It was seriously like 90-degrees in my studio. Trust me, it could go either way…

And let me just say… I still wish I had kept the ‘Scooby-Doo’ View-Master!!!

By now you know that I love a lot of patterns & textures!
And since I’ve already told stories of how incredible the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour
is in previous posts, I decided this year to show off the “Potters of the Minnesota Tour”
by their patterns & textures! There are forty-nine potters on the Tour, but I’ve narrowed
it down to just twenty. All of them would just be overwhelming… as is the Tour!
So here’s the game…

How many of these twenty potters can you name just based on their work?!
So here’s the deal… I’ll show you the close-up, you tell me the potter who made it!

Potter #1 -  ____________________

Potter #2 -  ____________________

Potter #3 –   ____________________

Potter #4 –   ____________________

Potter #5 -  ____________________

Potter #6 –   ____________________

Potter #7 –   ____________________

Potter #8 –   ____________________

Potter #9 –   ____________________

Potter #10 –   ____________________

Potter #11 –   ____________________

Potter #12 –   ____________________

Potter #13 –   ____________________

Potter #14 –   ____________________

Potter #15 –   ____________________

Potter #16 –   ____________________

Potter #17 –   ____________________

Potter #18 –   ____________________

Potter #19 –   ____________________

Potter #20 –   ____________________

You know… after looking at twenty of the fantastic potters showing up north
in the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour, it seems like something’s missing?!
There’s a lot of glazing… a lot of carving… a lot of atmospheric firing… but…

Don’t you think they need some obsessively stamped pots up there?! I’m just sayin’…