Celebrating a beautiful night showing off a beautiful collection of ceramic Christmas Trees… in a beautiful display cabinet. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday weekend. And thanks to Keith & Julie for sharing their collections with us.

But wait… what is that?… a red & white peppermint-striped tree?…
perhaps some festive inspiration for next year???

I’ve always said how much I LOVE having talented friends! Like metalsmith Sarah Chapman who made all of these beauties… which you can come see tomorrow in person at the ONE OF A KIND SHOW at the Merchandise Mart downtown. I’ll be there helping her again tomorrow in Booth 2118 until 5:00pm. Be sure to stop by… her work is AMAZING!

And what better way to celebrate than with some yummy cookies
on a pretty green platter?! One of my green, stamped platters with my friend Kristen’s cookies!!!
A perfect combination!

For Kristen’s “First Dibs” Pottery Sale & Open House last night, she sent out electronic invitations… and reminders. But then she tempted me… err, I mean taunted me… with this photo. Yummy brownies on one of my platters!!! So… I had to go now, right?! It would have “rude” not to!!! HA!!!

So last night my longtime friend & pottery student Kristen had a little “First Dibs” party before launching her pottery website today! As a former metalsmith, it’s been fun watching her work in clay instead of metal. And seeing her skills & designs grow & evolve so quickly. You can tell she’s been listening to my lessons… especially my “More Is More” mantra! Congrats Kristen… so proud of you!!!

I came home with this little brown cup. Which was actually a class demo… that I offered for someone else to finish. Kristen was the first to claim it… and look what she did to my “plain” demo cylinder!!!

And a special THANK YOU shout-out to my friend Sharon who made a great Instagram post about her trip to my place! She’s a real estate agent showing off her photography skills. Capturing a lot of my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW… as I didn’t quite have the time to do it myself!!! Thanks Sharon!

And if you didn’t make it… see what you missed?!!! HA!!!

My friend Kristen who is currently a pottery collector, pottery lover & pottery student in my Monday night class… put together this wonderful stack of plates! The bottom “charger” plate is by my studio neighbor Karen Patinkin, my stamped green dinner plate in the middle… and then Kristen’s own blue spiraled salad plate on top! Not at all planned that way… but a BEAUTIFUL collection of plates. Different colors, different styles, from different times. And yet they look like they were meant to be this way!!!

With a threat of overnight frost killing off her flowers, looks like Rosene made herself a cute little arrangement of homegrown flowers in one of my stamped & soda-fired vases! Just trying to keep her summer flowers goin’ a bit longer…

After dinner last night… THIS HAPPENED!!!

And yes, it was so exciting to finally be “in the room where it happened.” Such an amazing show!!! So well-crafted, such amazing wordplay, incredible choreography & talented performances!!! Such an amazing way to continue celebrating BIRTHDAY WEEK with my co-birthday buddy Nancy!!!

Always fun when friends & fellow potters stop by your art fair booth… especially when it’s Marsha and her kids! And to think that I first met Mikayla in 2013 when she snatched up one of my Mummy Ghouls at ART IN THE BARN… and in my head she’s still that cute little girl! Hard to believe it’s been ten years already!!!

From Marsha’s post on Facebook…
“What a beautiful day with my girls @mikayla_noelle_ and @alyssa_grace_101 at the Grassroots Art Fair in Glenview. Of course we couldn’t leave without @firewhenreadypottery Gary’s beautiful pottery!!! It’s been too long!!!”