Hard to believe that it’s already September…
and that ART IN THE GARDEN is just one week away!!!
A great grassroots art fair with a merry band of talented friends. Stop by next weekend…
September 10th & 11th at 1205 Hutchings Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

Looks like my friend & wonderful metalsmith Amy Taylor has been busy getting ready for next weekend. Her workbench is getting full of wonderful things that will be at ART IN THE GARDEN. A fun, little art fair with a handful of talented friends!!! September 10th & 11th at 1205 Hutchings Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

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Hanging out with my friend & brilliant metalsmith Sarah Chapman at the Bucktown Arts Fest. Diggin’ her new bracelets… which I lovingly dubbed “a bangle with a dangle.” Stop by today until 7:00pm… or again tomorrow from 11:00am-7:00pm!!! Booth 178 on Lyndale.

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We’ve been doing this Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge for six months now. It’s a little tough for the ceramic folks to show finished pieces in a timely basis. What with needing to glaze and fill a kiln and all. So we frequently just show the greenware versions of the ornaments and hope that people can “visualize” the finished outcome. Well, Roberta has been busy glazing & finishing some of her ornaments from previous months. No more “guessing”…. now you can see the real thing. And how incredible they all look!!!

To see more of Roberta’s ceramic work, click here for her website.

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Six months in. Six months to go!!!
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
And now we’re half way done! Hard to believe 2016 is already half way over???
When did THAT happen?

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
After last month’s fish ornaments, it’s not too surprising that Cory stayed aquatic… err, amphibian… close enough… and went with some adorable frogs for June! And as usual, Cory supplied us with a piece-by-piece, part-by-part photo story. Sorry, no tadpoles to start with, but…

Legs…

Body parts…

Assemble line…

Sightless frogs…

And here they are…. Cory’s adorable amphibians for June!!!
Can’t wait to see them in color after she glazes & fires them!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
According to Sarah… “The June ornament is covered with snowflakes that were etched into the brass. Very glad that there are no actual snowflakes in sight right now!”

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta is for the birds! This month she created these beautiful “two turtle doves.” The holes on the top will be filled with a wire ring for hanging.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
For June, Amy went with a longer hanging ornament… complete with dangles, spangles and a faceted black onyx stone.

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
And for my June ornaments, I went with textured squiggles. These will be destined for my next soda kiln… but I’ve got to add some color to them first. They’ll get a couple layers of different colored flashing slips before they start to dry.

So there they are… June ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

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Here we go…. our fifth month… May.
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
I think it was a little tougher this month for many of us as we were all prepping for the kick-off of the art fair season… but somehow, we all squeezed them in!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory went back to her roots a bit… and revisited clay fish! When I first met Cory MANY years ago, we were both at the Hinsdale Arts Festival and she was making fish. I know have a whole school… and a great friend!!! This month Cory also shares a step-by-step photo tour of her ornament production. Starting with a few sketches & maquettes…

And then the fish started taking shape… piece by piece, fin by fin…

Then underglaze colors to really bring them to life!!!

A – DOR – A – BLE – !!! Must have at least a few!!!

And now she’s just showing off… but… Cory went one step even further and glazed & fired her fish for this month’s entry!!! It’s typically tough for we ceramic people to get things made & fired in a timely basis to meet this monthly challenge. But somehow, Cory was an over-achiever this month!!!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
For May, Sarah went a little twisty with her ornament. Holes, twists, curves, beautiful.
THese would look especially cool on one of those Orna-Motions that rotates ornaments.

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta went a little organic this month. Adorable little cactii and succulents. Like miniature versions of her already “mini” pods & shapes. So cute. Can’t wait to see these after they’ve been glazed.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy continued with her ornate & stunning metal ornaments for May. A beautiful trio of holiday glamour. Each one with a beautiful, swively hinge on the top.

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
And for my May ornaments, I went with textured ornaments. Three sides with three different patterns. I got them built in time, but haven;t quite had time to paint them with colored flashing slips. These will be destined for my next soda kiln… but I’ve got add some color to them first.

So there they are… May ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

Just surprised the Birthday Girl in her booth at the 57th Street Art Fair. Stop by Booth 608 today or tomorrow to wish her well… and she LOVES when you sing loudly!!! Happy Birthday my talented friend Sarah Chapman!!!

Here we go…. our fourth month… April.
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
We’re four months in… it’s hard to believe we’re a third of the way through already!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory was a bit “sheepish” about turning in this month’s ornament. She didn’t have time to create a whole flock like she wanted to. She was a baaaaa-d girl. I’m in the days to come she’ll be cranking out a few more… as she wouldn’t want to pull the wool over our eyes with just one!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
For April, Sarah made a patterned metal ribbon ornament out of copper. According to Sarah, “I needed a break from making earrings for One-of-a-Kind this week and decided hammering some metal would do it! I started by roller printing the floral pattern onto a copper sheet. Then I went to work hammering folds into the piece, letting it be as ribbon-y as it wanted to be!”

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta made a few “Queen Of Hearts” ornaments by carving & poking some porcelain. A beautiful stylized ornament.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy switched back to her metalsmithing ways and offered up a few ornaments very reminiscent of her hinged jewelry line. Sweet little jewels for anyone’s tree!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
And for my April ornaments, I returned to a variation of a favorite from two years ago. The stamped star impression becomes more dimensional when the star “puffs up” with a gentle curve on both sides.

I started by cutting out the stars and giving them the gentle curve. I then attached tow of them together… one with the stamp impression for the front, and a plain star for the back.

I then painted the back solid with Nichols Gold Flashing Slip… as well as the front border around the star impression. Once soda-fired, we should see some nice “mustard” gold-ish colorations on the front & back. The star impressions will most likely be inlaid with temoku glaze and then soda fired in my next kiln… in about two weeks! So we should see some results relatively soon!!!

So there they are… April ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

Spent the day at the Spring One-Of-A-Kind Show with “My Talented Friend” Sarah Chapman. Wonderful metalsmithing and designs… like this beauty made of copper & silver. I’ll be there tomorrow helping her out again. If you want to see some amazing art, and her incredible jewelry, c’mon down to the Merchandise Mart tomorrow!

A better close-up shows better details of Sarah Chapman’s incredible handiwork. Oxidized sterling silver with a roller-printed “embossed” pattern and iolite points protruding from the side. Gorgeous!

Here’s the “other” side of the twosome necklace by Sarah Chapman. This side is roller-print “embossed” copper and “stitched” with beads of iolite, labradorite & chalcedony

For more about Sarah’s amazing metal works, click here for her website.

Here we go…. the third month… March.
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
We’re three months in… a quarter of the way!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory embraces Spring this month with brightly colored ornaments of flowers, petals and textures. So while we’re tap dancing on the front edge of Spring, the past few gloomy days have been brightened a bit my Cory’s cheery ornaments.

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
For March, Sarah “returns to her roots” and mimics her jewelry style with a beautiful brass & beaded ornament. According to Sarah, it’s “definitely inspired by my penchant for reversible jewelry and now ornaments!”

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta continued her “galactic” ornaments! Last month they were porcelain “moon and stars”… this month see’s focused more on the “transportation” aspect of the galaxy! Methinks the Millennium Falcons will be a BIG hit!!!

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy takes another spin on her already popular ADORBS jewelry collection…
this time celebrating Spring showers with that one ADORB-able Spring Green eye!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
And for my March ornaments, I’ve been making small flocks of birds. Trying to keep them simple & stylized. I can’t decide if I like them better with textured bodies or textured wings?! So I’ve decided to make some of each.

And since I’m not really sure how I’m going to glaze finish these avian delights… I decided I should make another flock of birds for the soda kiln. These birds are made with soda clay… and still need some eyes!!! And maybe a some accents of colored flashing slips?!

So there they are… March ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

And oh, but wait there’s more!!!
Remember, the ceramic folks have a little tougher time actually finishing their ornaments due to kiln firing schedules. So we’re frequently posting the dried greenware versions monthly. And then, once they get glazed & fired, I’ll post the “finished” results here too.

Like this one… a few finished February beauties from Cory McCrory!!!