Lots of pots… plus ornaments & flowers… all loaded into the soda kiln!!!

A hundred & fourteen flowers… but who’s counting?
Now ready for soda-firing this weekend with glaze inlaid in the textures
& colored flashing slips for a “pop” of color!!!

Okay, so when I started making these flowers… I only expected to make “a few.” But you know me… I’m all in!!! No time for a sample. No time for a prototype. Instead… I just went crazy & made over a hundred flowers!!! Let’s hope this “plan” works out for ART IN THE GARDEN!!!

Over the summer I made a lot of handbuilt flowers with my Summer Campers.
Not really sure what to do with them… but I kept making more…
even some with stamped details. Go figure!!!

More flowers today at Summer Camp! Handbuilding day with my teenaged campers… making flowerpots with handbuilt clay flowers. They did a great job…and tomorrow they’ll paint them with colored slips!

Another week of Summer Camp done! Ending with a lot of flowerpots with flowers…
and perhaps a stray side-eyed penguin in the mix!!!

Another great day at Summer Camp… today was handbuilding with my 8-10 year old campers. The project was flowerpots with dimensional flowers on the sides… seemed obvious to me! We all had a great time making flowers & leaves to grace our textured flowerpots! Well done kiddos!!!! And tomorrow they add colors…

Lots of fun handbuilt mugs for my summer campers to paint with colored slips today …
in addition to their wheelthrown pots! Including my favorite Chicago-themed mug…
well done Emma!

This week at Summer Camp I’m teaching 8-10 year olds both wheelthrowing & handbuilding. We already tackled wheelthrowing & trimming. Today was their handbuilding day… and I challenged them to make two mugs with one theme! Can’t wait to see these come together even more when we paint everything tomorrow with colored slips!

Another “monstrously“ fun night at the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN this past week!!! For their final handbuilding challenge… we took inspiration from Gretchen the “Master Monster Maker”… @biggirlco . I’ve loved seeing her monsters online over the years. So I shared her page with my class… discussed being “inspired” by her work… and definitely making our own versions & not copying hers!

So my class had just over two hours to make their own “free-standing” monster… with a minimum of 12” tall. Not an easy assignment… especially with a time restraint. Handbuilding takes time… as they learned… “wet clay” typically doesn’t want to stand up on its own! Everyone had a GREAT time… thanks again to Gretchen @biggirlco for the inspiration! We hope we did you proud!!!