Lookey-lookey!!! The new postcards & posters have arrived! I just got my stash of marketing materials for the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. So excited to be returning to the Tour as a guest potter at my friend Cory’ McCrory’s studio in Sandwich, Illinois. Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 8th & Sunday, June 9th and plan for a full day or two of pottery fun! Drive the Tour from studio to studio… visiting artist and seeing a LOT of great pottery!!

For more Tour information… check out the website here!

Christmas in April… as this quartet finally received their Christmas gifts from my friend Maryann. Looks like some of her grandchildren were pleased with their new pottery… round vases with crackled slip, stamped rims & soda-fired flashing effects! Thanks for sharing your “holidays” with us Maryann!

So it’s been a busy week… with working all day, teaching three night classes, cleaning the kiln, biking & doing my taxes!!! Yes, I’m still working on my TAXES!!! But here’s the inside my soda kiln from last weekend… finally! Another beautiful firing with some great colors & flashing marks all the way through! Looking forward to spending some more time with each of these pieces as I start to prep & price them all for the upcoming art fair season! After I finish my taxes of course…

Busy making again… this time it’s bottomless cylinders that get turned into ovals.
No one ever said that wheelthrown pots had to be round!!!

Last night in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we celebrated the end of another session with a fun “white elephant” trading, exchanging & stealing game! Category was?… COOKIE JARS… many of them already filled with cookies!!! Nicely done team!

Here’s another great example of soda-firing… BEFORE & AFTER.

This collection is mostly Kelsey’s handbulit pots. Some classical forms with some contemporary surfaces. It’s cool to see them side-by-side to see & how they all transformed during the firing.

Well done Kelsey!!!

Just got home from teaching class… and it’s never too late to celebrate! As today is also NATIONAL CHERRY PIE DAY!!! And I’m ready to have a slice of the fun!!!

Well, the saga continues… as I was hoping this was a one-time thing. Apparently not. Thanks to more of my faithful Followers, we now know that the same studio in San Jose has used MY images before!!! Seems to be a thing for them. Stealing other potters images without permission. So obnoxious.

Create your own content.
Create your own brand.
Create your own pottery.
DON’T STEAL MINE!!!

Again, special THANKS to all of my pottery peeps that have been so supportive & encouraging over the years. Like Dawn who spotted this image in one of their Reels from awhile back. I know it’s a risk putting so many of my images out there… but I wish to view the good in the world. And not the trolls who try to ruin it for everyone else!

Let me introduce you to Martin… spoiler alert… winner of the most recent “Great American Baking Show”… and potter in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class! You may remember him from all of my posts about the snacky-games & finale party we played while he was in my class & his show was airing on TV.

Not only do his pottery skills continue to impress us… his baking does too! Like this yummy Lemon Lavender Cake he brought in for class snacks this past Monday! It sure was yummy… past tense… burp!… but it does also look GREAT on the stamped cake plate I made for him as his “trophy” for winning the show!!! They look great together!

You can always check-in on Martin’s baked goods… including the recipe for this cake… if you follow him on Instagram!!! – @martinsorge

And… oh, but wait there’s more… you can still csatch-up and watch “The Great American Baking Show” for FREE online. Sure, it might be on The ROKU Channel… but you don;t need ROKU to watch it on your computer!!! Just click here.

While it’s still freezing in Chicago, it’s never to soon to start planning a fun pottery adventure for the warmer Spring days! So excited to see the newest poster arrive in my mailbox for the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour up in Minnesota! So much fun to travel around to see pottery studios, potters & beautiful pottery everywhere! I’ll be up there touring & shopping… and you should too! Mark your calendars now…