Just getting ready for tomorrow’s big show! Unpacking, cleaning & pricing the pieces from Monday’s cone 6 glaze firing. And loving the quick pop of color!!! These porcelain cups are perfect for a quick sip of water, or a quick shot of something stronger. Some may call them yunomi’s… I call them adorable!!! Fun bright colors and very smooth to the touch. Ready to go tomorrow!!! First come, first served… just like the collaboration pieces with my metalsmith friend Amy Taylor!!! So come early…

And don’t forget… mugs too!!!… you know they’re my very favorite thing to make.

A fun & colorful diversion from soda-firing. I think I need to explore this cone 6 glazing a bit more. I’d love to find a few more glazes that are deep & saturated colors, and yet break well in the stamps. Any suggestions?… please feel free to add your favorite glaze recipe in the Comments section. Thanks.

Less than a week from the next Holiday Home Show… MUD & METAL…
and I’m trying to squeeze in yet another kiln of goodies!!! So I spent the evening tonight glazing up more porcelain pots in some bright cone 6 colors. Lots of mugs, yunomi, holiday stars, tiles and more!

Okay, so here are the details we’ve all been waiting for…
Tomorrow is the kick-off of my one & only, annual online sale.
Celebrating good ole’ St. Nick… and his wonderful spirit of gift-giving.

By now you’ve probably figured out that I don’t do many sales online… no Etsy, no website ordering. Really no easy way to get my pots unless you’re in the Chicagoland area. I do quite a few art fairs, home shows & studio sales. But not much for those of you who follow so loyally. So here’s my annual online sale just in time for holiday gift giving!!! Whether it’s a gift for someone on your list or, even better, just for yourself.

St. Nick’s Day Online Sale : Saturday, December 12th, 2015
The whole thing will take place on my pottery Facebook page.
The sale goes live at 8:00am Central time. First come, first claimed.
Once I post the event on Facebook, the first person to claim a mug gets it.
Just be one of the seagulls in “Finding Nemo”… MINE!   MINE!!   MINE!!!
This online sale will end on Friday, December 11th at noon.

I will post pictures of the twenty mugs & ten wheelthrown ornaments in a Facebook Photo Album so as not to flood your News Feed. Just scroll through the Photo Album to do a little shopping. Comments that accompany individual photos will count. Comments on the whole Photo Album would be nice, but it won’t get you a mug or ornament!

Mugs & ornaments will be $50 each which includes shipping & handling.
Contiguous US only please.

Mug #1 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior.

Mug #2 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. Dramatic soda flashing – one side orange, with a great transition to a more soda-covered other side

Mug #3 – Soda-fired porcelain with green-ish brown slip, Temoku glaze interior. Beautiful hints of greens flashing evenly around the mug.

Mug #4 – Soda-fired stoneware, Temoku glaze interior. Mostly brown with some beautiful soda ash build-up on one side.

Mug #5 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. Vibrant orange on one side with a wonderful soda transition to a creamy white on the other side.

Mug #6 – Soda-fired stoneware and splash of green glaze, Temoku glaze interior.

Mug #7 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip & blue glaze, Temoku glaze interior. Deeply banded rim with pearly creams, light blues and a hit of orange.

Mug #8 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. Bright orange on one side and a LOT of soda build-up on the other. Some people will LOVE the dramatic build-up!!!

Mug #9 – C0ne 10 reduction stoneware with a burgundy-brown glaze… cleanly highlighting all of the stamps. Very smooth to the touch.

Mug #10 – Soda-fired stoneware with ash glaze accents, Temoku glaze interior. Natural browns on one side, and beautiful soda ash build-up on the other. You can definitely see which side of the mug the kiln flames hit.

Mug #11 – Soda-fired porcelain with blue flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. The blue seems a little “blurry” but it actually has some beautiful mottling & “crystal-like” formations.

Mug #12 – Soda-fired stoneware with hints of green glaze, Temoku glaze interior. The soda ash build-up is green-ish and still appears to be wet.

Mug #13 -Soda-fired stoneware with some wonderful teal  & green glaze accents around the mug, Shino glaze interior.

Mug #14 -Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. One of my favorites with the dramatic soda “kiss” on one side and beautiful orange around the rest.

Mug #15 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. A shorter mug with a wide range of colors & heavy soda build-up.

Mug #16 – Soda-fired porcelain “little cutie” with orange slip & green glaze accents, Shino glaze interior.

Mug #17 -Soda-fired porcelain with blue glaze accents, Temoku glaze interior. A lot of color variations around the mug. A little “dryer” around the bottom.

Mug #18 – Soda-fired stoneware with a dark orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior. Pretty even soda ash build-up showing great flashing marks around the banded rim.

Mug #19 -Soda-fired B-Clay with green glaze accents, Shino glaze interior. The whiter side has some beautiful “glassy greens” still dripping down the sides.

Mug #20 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip, Temoku glaze interior.

And oh, but wait there’s more… ORNAMENTS TOO!!!
$50 each includes shipping & handling.

Ornament #1 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip.

Ornament #2 – Soda-fired B-C;lay with orange flashing slip & blue glaze accents.

Ornament #3 – Soda-fired stoneware.

Ornament #4 – Soda-fired stoneware with glassy green soda build-up.

Ornament #5 – Soda-fired stoneware.

Ornament #6 – Soda-fired stoneware.

Ornament #7 – Soda-fired B-Clay with blue slip & blue glaze accents.

Ornament #8 – Soda-fired stoneware.

Ornament #9 – Soda-fired stoneware with flashing slip accents.

Ornament #10 – Soda-fired stoneware with orange flashing slip.

Okay, so there it is. Thirty pieces up for grabs starting at
8:00am Central time on Sunday, December 6th.
Happy St. Nick’s Day!!!

Remember that you need to “claim them” in my Fire When Ready Pottery Facebook page. Be the first to leave a “claiming” message in the Comments section for each photo. Comments on the entire Photo Album will be appreciated, but won’t gt you the prize!

A quick layer loaded into a bisque kiln.
Rapid replenishment for my Second Holiday Home Show on Saturday, December 12th.

Thrown & stamped Saturday… Trimmed & handled Sunday… Drying & into a kiln Monday.

The latest batch of porcelain mugs… trimmed & handled yesterday. A few small bowls too!
Drying today. Anxious for the kiln.

Not a bad evening in the studio. Some quick porcelain cups thrown & stamped.
I’m hoping to trim and add some handles tomorrow!!!

A pile of porcelain potential. Just throwing a quick batch to replenish a bit for the
Second Holiday Home Show on Saturday, December 12th.
Mark your calendars… and bring your friends!!!

Another late night in the studio. Playing with porcelain and some stamps. Just trying to make enough new work to fill next weekend’s soda kiln!

Currently on display in The Gallery at Lillstreet Art Center is one of the crazy-cool “exploded” pots by Steven Young Lee. I’m not sure that I understand the whole “concept” behind them… but they’re pretty darn impressive!!!

First off… just throwing a vessel that large with porcelain. Challenging enough.
Second… to carve such an intricate, detailed & layered image on the entire pot. Wow.
But then to have the kahunas to “explode” it… and still get it to hold its form… kinda.
Not to mention the perfect glazing… and those wonderful drips hanging on! C’mon.

Back in the day, when Steve was one of my wheelthrowing instructors at the old Lill Street Art Center location, he made functional pots. (Still does, but he’s more known for these now.) He was one of the best instructors I had there. Very specific, encouraging, and EXPECTED you to do the class demo project every single week. He would demo it one night, and then we had to come to class a week later with our version of the same. He told us right there on Day One of class that if we didn’t want to “participate” in the class demo “homework” assignments we might as well switch classes right there & then. Great teacher who has since moved on to be the Artist Resident Director at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. And is now making these crazy-cool pots… and getting quite famous at the same time!!! Well, in the pottery world any ways.

I’m just not sure that I get it. Sorry Steve.

Steve makes beautiful pots, carves incredible imagery into them and then “explodes” on purpose! I do appreciate the craftsmanship and attention-to-detail. I even love the wonderful glaze drips hanging on. I know there’s something very “conceptual” going on here. But I think I would still rather see the beautiful pot without the “explosion.” But that’s just me. Obviously a LOT of people “get it.” He’s quite popular in the ceramic collector’s world… and will displaying his work this weekend at SOFA Chicago. So it’s got to be good, right?!

According to Ceramic Arts Daily…
Throughout much of his work, Lee embraces the irregularities and mishaps that generally are seen as making an object worthless. The artist often intentionally cracks pieces or fires them to the point of breaking. In some cases he carves imagery on the inside of the vessel as well as the outside, letting viewers know that they are actually supposed to be able to see the interior. Other times he fills in the cracks with a textured mortar that is then covered in gold leaf. Lee thus challenges the identity of the vessel as a functional object meant to contain something. Indeed, the idea of containment—or lack thereof—is a key component in all of Lee’s work. Transgressing boundaries of all types—geographic, cultural, visual, functional—Lee allows a spilling out of meanings as diverse as the experiences that inspired them.

For more about Steve Lee and his incredible ceramic work, click here for his website.

And if you’d like to see this wonderfully dripping & broken pot in person, there’s a Closing Reception at Lillstreet Art Center tomorrow night. Friday, November 6th. You’ll even get to me Steve Lee… and ask him for yourself about what’s going on here!

Working up another batch of porcelain reclaim clay. It’s been slaking down in my reclaim tub, and then turned out onto a large plaster bat. I love how the clay “releases” from the plaster and kind of rolls right up when it’s ready to be wedged. Batch #1 done… about four more of the same still to do. Gotta love FREE CLAY!!!