First a couple new things from Cory. An adorable red hat kid which is actually a jar.
The hat comes off to reveal a bright orange interior! And you know how I love orange!

Speaking of orange… I also got another mug from Cory while I was there. I’ve always been
drawn to her sense of color & whimsy. Plus the textures & patterns ain’t too shabby either!

And then, as if I don’t already have too many ornaments on my Christmas tree, I needed to
get another one from Cory. The white bird will get added tot he tree. The black bird will
take up year-round residence elsewhere! You’ll need to come find it!

And another textured, porcelain vessel by Roberta. Such fine detail and carving! Love it.

And a groovy plate by Delores! Great pattern & design… plus a really cool “lip” or rim
of the late that curls over slightly. To help get all of those peas onto your fork!

It was another busy night of art. This Ceramics Showcase and the Lillstreet Holiday Opening.
Of you have a chance, stop by either one, or both, today or tomorrow!

Ceramics Showcase is at the McGaw YMCA at 1000 Grove Street, Evanston, Illinois
Lillstreet Art Center is at 4401 North Ravenswood (at Montrose), Chicago, Illinois

You know I love making mugs!
And tonight I finally finished adding handles, painting some colored slip accents and
setting them out to dry. Half of them are made of soda stoneware, the other half B-Clay.
All of them are set to be fired in my upcoming soda kiln. The B-Clay works especially well
in the back stack of the kiln, whereas the soda clay turns out better with a little heavier
coverage of soda glaze build-up. So I need to keep track of which is which… okay…
so there’s a small “code” on the bottom of each piece to help with that.

So now they’re drying… waiting to go into my next bisque kiln on Tuesday.
Forty-four of them… just in case you’re counting! Then they’ll be glazed and soda fired
just in time for my upcoming Holiday Home Show!

Since then, I’ve been all over the ovals in my studio as well.
And when I dive into production mode, I have a tendency to go a little overboard. I may
have done that again here… as I’ve run out of space in my studio because of the ovals!!!

Since the demo was so “inspiring” to Jen… I thought I’d cover a bit of them here too.
So when I start making my ovals, I generally throw a large bottomless cylinder on a bat.
For these ovals, I also made split rims while I was throwing them so I would have a little more
to play with later when stamping & decorating. Once the cylinders have lost their “shine”
and stickiness, I wire them off the bat, pick them up carefully and manipulate them into the
oval shape. I let them set up even more, do some stamping, some pinching, some fluting…
you know, more of my usual decorating tricks!

The next step is to add a bottom onto the bottomless “now-ovaled” cylinders. So I throw out
a slab of clay large enough to fit the oval. Then I carefully pick up the oval, set it on the slab
and trace the shape. Then I take it off, flip it over and score & slip both pieces. Carefully
putting them back together and “squishing” them carefully so they stick! Since I was tired
and running out of time, I wrapped them up and let them sit like that overnight.

The next day, I came in and worked to clean-up the bottoms and edges. So I flipped the
combined form together and trimmed off the extra clay with my firm green rib. Carefully
scraping off the excess clay – trying to combine top & bottom seamlessly.

Then I take a flat sided paddle to compress the edges together  – making sure the
connection is strong, as well as creating a nice corner-angle-undercut all the way around.

Once the bottom is attached, trimmed and smoothed into place, I carefully flip it
back over and decide if it needs handles – and this time the answer was yes!

So I rolled out coils of clay and textured them with a grooved rod that I found at a flea market.
I think it’s a piece from Lincoln Logs or some other kid’s game?! Hey, but it works great!
So I press the textured rod into the coils to get the textured, then bend them into the handle
shape. I always do both handles at the same time so that they match.

Then, it’s more scoring & slipping to get the handles attached.
A few last minute touch-ups and then they were done for another night.

Special thanks to my studio neighbors Lisa Harris, Cathi Bouzide & Karen Patinkin
for letting me “borrow” some table space while I’ve been working on these…
many times without them even knowing it!

I wrapped them up in plastic for one last night. Hoping that the slower drying will give
all the parts a little more time to balance out and dry more evenly. Unfortunately, all these
ovals are taking up a LOT of space in my already small studio. So much so…
that these ovals have been relegated to the floor!!! Careful where you walk…

After an evening of “slow drying” under plastic, they’ll be uncovered so they can dry the
rest of the way… and then go into my next bisque kiln scheduled for next Tuesday night!

And here’s the message from Sally:
“Just getting to this now! loved your Art Sale! So nice to have such talent presented
so wonderfully! Look how wonderful the votive holder was for my campout!!!

If any of you have photos to share, I’d love to see them!

So I threw ten bowls. All basically the same. Basically round. Basically plain.
The my goal was to overwhelm then all with some quick tricks to make them special!!!

A simple fluted rim… and the basic bowl with a “dragonscale tool” flower in the bottom!

With a flanged rim… and then a flanged & fluted rim.

With a split-rim that I pinched together… and another split-rim that I squared off.

Bad photo… but this one was shaped using a rib that I cut out of an expired credit card.
And then I introduced colored slip as a decorative. Starting with a spiral dragged through!

Slip chattering.. and a slip stencil using a “2″ cut out of the newspaper!

So now they’re in my studio, waiting to be stamped, accented & trimmed.
But I’m going to be gone for the weekend for ART DETOUR. So I’ll be wrapping them up
extra tight with soaking wet sponges under the plastic… and hoping that they stay wet!

Step One: Throw a bottomless cylinder, and re-shape it into an oval.
Step Two: Stamp the textures & patterns into soft leather-hard clay.
Step Three: Add a slab bottom and lug handles.

Oval #1… in three easy steps…

Oval #2… in three easy steps…

Oval #3… in three easy steps…

Oval #4… in three easy steps…

So now it’s some “slow drying” and then off to the bisque kiln…

Bowl #1 – before & after…

Bowl #2 – before & after…

Bowl #3 – before & after…

Bowl #4 – before & after…

Bowl #5 – before & after…

So now it’s a little more drying time… then some trimming to make a nice foot!

Art In The Barn – September 24th & 25th in Barrington, Illinois
Art Detour – October 7th, 8th & 9th in Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin.

So now I’m making new items with that special Northwoods influence…
exclusively for the folks on the Art Detour… a teaser of things to come…