It’s just a few days before the Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival…
and surprisingly, I’m already packed up and ready to go… almost!
I still have a lot of “busy-work” to do before then… but the tough part is done!

We cleaned, organized, priced and packed up a lot of new pots fresh out of the kiln.
And with the Hinsdale Fine Arts Fair just two weeks after Schaumburg, there’s not
enough time in between to make a new batch of work, fire & glaze… so we packed
for both shows at the same time. Luckily, I made enough pots over the past few months
to give us a full inventory for both shows! So there will be a different assortment of pots
in Schaumburg than there will be in Hinsdale! Come to both shows to see everything!

Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival – May 26th & 27th, 2012
Hinsdale Fine Arts Fair – June 9th & 10th, 2012

But here’s the funny part… while we were packing the pots, my Mom got “caught”
by a piece of pottery! She was wearing a shirt that had a lace-up neckline and the laces
had a metal aglet at the end. Apparently, the piece of metal somehow got “wedged”
on between the flower pot and the connected water dish. She walked around for a
couple minutes trying to get un-hooked! Of course I had to laugh & take a picture
BEFORE I could help her get it undone!

Today was a very productive day. We worked all day long in the basement.
It’s very dirty & dusty down there. And it’s an unfinished basement – not very glamorous!
We all had our own jobs. Our own projects. Trying to make room to do one before another.
But, all of my new pots have now been unpacked, priced and organized into the inventory.
That part took a little longer than I expected. I guess there were more pots that I thought!?
Priced. Labeled. Cleaned… and on the shelves! We did throw away some clutter along the
way, but not nearly enough. I still have far too many boxes of things I “need.”
Methinks there will be another “storage room day” in my not so distant future!!!

Luckily, after a full day in the dusty basement, we did get out for a really good dinner!
The three of us went to my favorite restaurant Rose Angeli’s. I think it’s my Mom’s fave too!

So when she suggested it… I was excited to go back! Especially since I knew it was
Pear Ravioli Week!!! One of the best “weekly specials” ever! Plus, we had a really great
appetizer! Some sort of Duck Casserole?!… a baked concoction of duck, spinach, cheese,
sauce & more! Not to mention the all-time best hot caramel sauce ever on my favorite
bread pudding dessert!!! Seriously, the bread pudding is just the “vehicle” to get the
caramel sauce into my mouth faster!!!

Today’s going to be a long day…
My parents are coming over for the day to help out in my basement storage room.
There’s a LOT of pots down there from my recent kilns that need to be unpacked,
cleaned, priced and organized. Not to mention all of the other “garbage” that is scattered
all over the place. I have far too much “stuff” down there. I have a tendency to keep things
that “I’m sure I can use someday”… and they pile up. Tools for this. Supplies for that.
Things we can use for kid’s projects at Summer Camp. But at some point, all of that stuff
starts to get in the way too. So today it might be some ‘tough love’… things have gotta go!

Chocolate. Pizza. Taylor… three of my favorite things all in one day!!!
What could be better? Decadent fun making chocolate pizzas with Taylor!
It’s not every day your favorite niece turns seven years old. Happy Birthday Taylor!!!
Yep… she’s the cutest one in the bottom right corner… the one with her tongue sticking out!
I’m sure this photo will be a proud moment for her Mom!!!

And here’s our tools for the day. Yum… and more yum!

We all started out making our chocolate pizzas. The “crust” was a layer of milk chocolate.
Followed by “sauce” of candy jimmies, “sausage” of gummie worms, “garlic” of M&Ms,
more sprinkles, more chocolate, more gummies, more fun and a drizzle of white chocolate
“parmesan cheese” to top it all off. Layers & layers of yummy goodness.

Imagine a room full of seven year old all hopped up on sugar! Too funny!!! And if you
look closely… you’ll also see my parents working in chocolate too! Taylor made sure that
her Grandma & Grandpa were playing in the mix. So focused on their yummy projects.

So here is Taylor’s masterpiece pizza… with lots of toppings! Many of them chocolate!!!

And here’s mine! We’ll just call it my “late night snack”…

Once the pizzas were done and off to the side, we switched to making chocolate
“ice cream cones” using plastic candy molds. Here’s Taylor working diligently to make her
chocolate treats just perfect! Drizzling chocolate, sprinkling candies and more!

It was a great birthday party for Taylor and several of her school friends.
They were all so cute. So funny. Playing. Working. Teasing. Interacting. Creating.
So focused in the beginning, a little looser and animated as they “snuck” more chocolate
into their mouths, and by the end… it was a real party!!!

And the best part… besides playing with Taylor the birthday girl…
is taking home a box full of chocolates that I’ve created for myself!!! Yummy…

Click here more information about The Morkes Original Party.
Morkes: The Chocolate Shop – 180 North Rand Road, Palatine, IL 60074 – (847) 359-3454

And then

As the start of school is right around the corner, my 6-year old niece Taylor
wanted to squeeze in another trip to the studio to play in some mud. So we made plans
and played with some clay after summer camp today. She stopped by Lillstreet
with her mom (my sister Jennifer) and her grandparents (my Mom & Dad). We set out
to make some quick leaf-relief-stencil plates. We went outside to find some “good” leaves
with nice outlines and strong veins. We pressed them into some stoneware slabs and
painted over them with colored slip. As always… she was VERY focused on her project!

And then, after letting the slip dry for a few minutes, we carefully peeled out the leaves
to reveal the leaf reliefs!

Next we took our slabs and draped them over a few handmade “frame” molds. After pressing
the slabs carefully into place, we trimmed off the excess edges & finished them off. They are
now set to dry… and after they’re fired, I will glaze the plates in the their “chosen” glaze color!

We headed down to Navy Pier to continue her fun day in Chicago!

Little did she know it, but I had also arranged for her to attend a surprise performance
of “Cirque Shanghai Extreme” on the Skyline Stage on Navy Pier. My friend Kim is the
Production Manager, and she graciously “hooked us up” for the show! And Taylor loved it…
she was mesmerized during the show. Especially when the acrobats came out over
the audience and performed just feet above her!

And then, oh but wait there’s more… after the show, Kim also took Taylor under her wing
and with a nod & a wave, Taylor got a complimentary stuffed panda. Which was then
autographed by a couple of the acrobats! And then… Kim also asked if we wanted to go
backstage to see some of the props, costumes and the large globe cage!!!  And after seeing
four motorcycles all driving around & flipping around inside the cage, it was very cool
to go inside… sans motorcycles!

But her evening wasn’t over yet… once she saw the huge Ferris Wheel on the Pier, it was somewhat inevitable that we would be going for a ride. So we were once again “hooked up” and hopped on the ride – slowly taking us up well above Navy Pier. With fantastic views of the city and lake all around us!

But the fun continued… as it was Wednesday night, which also means Fireworks!!!
Yep, every Wednesday & Saturday night we’re treated to fireworks over the lake!
And with that… her magical Claydate Playdate had come to an end…

I’m pretty confident she had a wonderful time.
Okay, except for the moment when she found out she was just an inch too short
for the flying swings ride!!! But that was “corrected” with a huge swirled lollipop
for the drive home!

Known to many of you as my wonderful “art fair assistants”…
My parents are vacationing this summer out in Montana and the incredible
Yellowstone National Park. While out there, they’ve been seeing a lot
of natural wonders… as well as these fantastic sculptures found somewhere
out on the road along “The Enchanted Highway.”

Be sure to note the scale of these impressive sculptures…
look at the REAL split-rail fence to the far right bottom corner of the deer sculpture!!!

The Diary of My Day.
From the very start of the morning, I knew we were in for some real “fun.”

8:00am – Driving back to Schaumburg in some of the thickest fog ever!
Knowing that it was also “Bike The Drive” and thousands of people would be riding
along Lake Shore Drive in the fog!!! Glad I’m not one of them… but still not the
weather I was hoping for! Very thick. Very heavy. Very foggy. And it only got
darker as I got closer to Schaumburg!

9:00am – Setting Up… Again.
Back in my booth putting things back together. With the rain at the end of yesterday,
we had packed down most of the larger pieces. Putting them back into their crates
and putting them on the ground… just in case “anything” terrible happened overnight.
Which luckily, it didn’t. So I spent the hour putting everything back in place…
questioning if it was even worth it with a weather forecast of impending doom.

10:00am – Let The Games Begin… bring on the customers!
The show opened and there are a few customers. Typically, the “crowds” are very slow
to get started on Sundays… what with brunch & church & all. But today, there were more
people than usual at the start. My guess is they were trying to get a little shopping done
before the storms! Shop fast…

11:00am – Clouds and Wind and Thunder… oh my!
And the fun started rolling in. The winds were picking up. The clouds were moving quick.
With an ever-entertaining symphony of thunder off in the distance. Fun, huh?! And with
everyone on the smart phones, the place was abuzz with everyone’s “radar” forecast!
And then the rain started… There were many reports of the “waves” of storms coming in.
That this one would pass, then there would be another… and another… and another…

11:30am – Raining.
With the skies opening up, it was definitely time for the tents to be closing up.
But the question is “for how long?” Will the storm pass over? Or not?
My Dad checked his phone for the radar. You know how “orange” is the color for
severe thunderstorms?… well, his phone showed the pin-point for where we were…
and the rest of the entire phone screen was ORANGE!!! All orange!!! All storm!!!

12:00pm – Thunderstorms.
All tents closed… so we started “packing down” some of the bigger & more expensive
pieces. Thinking “just in case” something bad happens, at least those pieces are safe.
But as we continued the process, it was evident the storm was not stopping. So neither
did we. My Mom and I were packing everything as my Dad went to get the van. And if you
looked around the fair, we weren’t the only one packing it. It was the start of a mass exodus.

1:00pm – Packing Up and Flooding!
It was still pouring. And we’re drenched. My Dad was packing the van as we were packing
the crates in the tent.At one point, the winds picked up – gusts were blowing around. And
my Dad was stuck outside the tent holding the flaps in place to keep us dry! I know that my
tent is securely anchored into the ground, but it’s still scary when the entire structure starts
shaking, rattling, bouncing & moving. And my Dad, still holding it down. We were packing
as fast as possible as the rain was coming down in bucketfuls. It wasn’t until we started
taken the sides off the tent that we noticed the walkway just in front of my tent was flooded!
Just feet from where were still working… pack faster… flood waters rising!!!

1:45pm – Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Break.
Amazing what sort of therapeutic effects Mom’s cookies can have on you
during a torrential downpour! Luckily, we had enough to share with others too!

2:00pm – Still Packing. Still Dripping. Still Drenched.
Sounds like a fun way to spend your Sunday afternoon, huh?

3:00pm – Driving home.
Apparently, it’s not only Schaumburg that got rain! It looks like it rained everywhere!
There were sections of the drive where you had to plow right through the flooded streets!

4:00pm – Unpacking & Drying.
As if it weren’t enough fun to pack up in the rain, it’s always fun to unpack it all again!
The fun just keeps on coming! Especially this time as everything was wet. Including us.
Not soaking wet anymore, now just kind of cold & clammy! So we unpacked the van
at lightning speed as there was a break in the rain. Then I had to dry off all of my
wooden shelves so they wouldn’t warp or get funky. And now all of my tent pieces are
spread out and “drying” in my storage room! So glamorous, huh?!

5:00pm – Showered & Dry… finally.
Now wondering what I’m going to do for dinner… and I feel that I “deserve”
something really good for dinner! Ordered in, of course!

Let’s hope that everything dries in the next two weeks… Hinsdale Fine Art Fair!!!

We barely finished the tour, and immediately started driving home. It was early
evening and the sun was behind us. Dramatically lighting everything along the way.
The trees. The rock formations. The clouds. Picture perfect… until…

We were driving south on the expressway when all of a sudden… red lights!!!
Lines of red lights all the way to the horizon. Not a good sign. Never a good sign.
So we decided to get off the expressway and try taking a different route. Good idea?
It was beautiful. Nice scenery. And the traffic was moving. So we thought we were
doing well. Until we suddenly realized that we really didn’t know where we were.

At one point, we turned to get on a different “more-well-known” road…
and it turned into a ferry launch! Yes, we actually took a ferry to get home tonight!!!
However, we had to wait for a couple “round-trips” before we could get on the boat.

Okay, so the drive home took longer than expected. But we made the best of it
and I got to spend plenty of quality time with my parents. Including celebrating
Mother’s Day a week early – as I will be in Minnesota again next weekend for the
St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour.

Yesterday was the Spring Open House at Lillstreet Art Center.
As a resident studio artist, we’re kind of “expected” to be there. Which is fine by me
as it’s also a great chance to have people stop by, see me working and hopefully they’ll
become a customer or student down the road. So there I was, working on a few projects…
finishing up my lidded jar class demo piece, and the extra “lid” which is now a small
dipping bowl… and throwing small plates for the new berry bowls.

It’s a long day of greeting people…
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
Repeatedly. Over & over. Until, imagine my surprise, when my parents turn the corner
and I throw them the same stock response… and then realize it’s them! They had read
on the blog that it was the Open House and they decided to come down to visit and
surprise me… and they did! So they hung out, visited a few studios including metalsmith
Rebecca Zemans who they met a coiple years ago as my art fair booth neighbor in Hinsdale!

And then… when the day was over, we decided to go out for dinner. I think it might have been
their plan all along to go to Rose Angeli’s?! I think the “surprise studio visit” may have been a
good “means-to-an-end” for us all to get a great meal?! Which I’m totally fine with as you know
I LOVE Rose Angeli’s!!! And we did have an incredible meal… I had some Chicken Vesuvio
filled ravioli with parmesan cheese & lemon cream sauce concoction YUMMY!!! – and we
shared three desserts!!! Bread pudding with pools of hot caramel sauce, chocolate & peanut
butter ice cream, and a hot chocolate fondue pot! Plus some quality time to get caught up
on  a bunch of stuff. Including all of the craziness going on at Lillstreet these days!

So this Christmas my 5-year old niece Taylor had “hinted” to my parents
that she wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. And that my Dad should build one
for her like he had built one for her Mom when she was a kid. She’s been playing with
her Mom’s dollhouse for years, but now she wanted her own!

And being the great Grandparents… how can you let a Christmas “hint” like that go by?!
So they got her the “huge” dollhouse she pointed out in the catalog. It’s apparently
sized for Barbie dolls, which also makes it taller than Taylor herself!!! It was camouflaged
in an oversized Christmas present. No gift tag. No name. But I think she may have guessed.
We all made her wait all day… for the final gift unveiling!

So I made her four different sets of “dinner plates” and two oval platters!
Each set with a different texture, pattern & glaze color. She’s been to the studio several
times and loves playing in the clay. She loves to flip-over all of my pieces to make sure
my signature is there. So yes.. I made sure to sign each little plate!

She was excited as she opened her present… and then proceeded to put plates in every
room of the house… on the porch… on the bed… and luckily, even the dining room table!