After spending the morning working in the garden trying to some quick weeding, pruning
and perennial-splitting done… I touched up my basement tile window! Again…

The basement windows of my condo have a metal security grid attached to the exterior.
Rather unsightly. But when you attach a few tiles to the grid… suddenly, it’s a work of art!

Unfortunately, a few of the tiles have a tendency to “disappear.” I guess that’s part of the game
when you do outdoor “public art.” You want to make it for everyone to enjoy, but not everyone
respects it of what it is. Art. So, I’ve attached them to the metal security grid with black,
plastic zip-ties. But somehow, every once in a while, a tile or two… or three… or seven…
show up missing. No broken pieces? No snipped zip-ties pieces? Not sure where they head
off to. But in my mind I’ve “decided” that they are chosen by some of the Catholic school kids
down the street who LOVED it so much that they had to have a piece of it for themselves.
Somehow, that makes me feel better. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Don’t forget… Fire When Ready Pottery is now on FACEBOOK.
www.facebook.com/FireWhenReadyPottery

Just hit the “LIKE” button at the top next to the name. You’ll be added
to the list of “fans” who like my work and want to get stories, pictures
and event updates the easy way! No muss, no fuss. Just an artist’s adventures!
Don’t miss out on the FACEBOOK fun… become a “Fan” today.

Okay, I know… for some reason, FACEBOOK has stopped referring to it
as a “Fan,” but I’m still going with it. It sounds better than a “Liker” ?!

So the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour is over and I finally made it home…
and unpacked my purchases… already loving them, touching them, feeling them…
already finding them a new place to live! But first… here’s their blog debut!

We’ll start with my favorite purchase… another beautiful lidded jar by Matthew Metz.
Already sitting on my fireplace mantle right next to my other Metz square jar!!!

And if that weren’t enough… another Metz teabowl and a tumbler by Suze Lindsay!

Followed by a Simon Levin bottle… to finish out my Simon Levin Bottle Trifecta taking
residence on the “other end” of my huge fireplace mantle!

And two beautiful Simon Levin bowls… just waiting for ice cream & LOTS of hot fudge!
No matter how beautiful the bowl, they still need LOTS of fudge!!!

Plus, two more for my mug collection – one by Silvie Granatelli, one by Ellen Grenadier.
Silvie’s with a wonderful carved texture. Ellen’s with a beautiful fern impression.

And then two fun pieces from the “rogue potters” we found by signs along the road
off the “official” tour route, hawking their wares in a wonderful dilapidated house…
with the best food spread of the entire tour! An oval vase with a great “tunnel” bottom
by Randal Anderson, and a textured “pod” by Jennifer Brandel.

All in all, a wonderful weekend filled with a LOT of wonderful pottery!
I’m already looking forward to next year… a shopping for even more cool pots!

Unless… we all get together and start a grass-roots campaign to get me invited
to be one of the potters invited to participate in next year’s pottery tour. So… here’s
my plan, if you know any of the “famous potters” on the tour, please-please-please
make them aware of my blog and of my work! Keep on them… force them, beg them,
plead… do whatever you need to do – to get them to invite me to be part of the list
of “potters-good-enough-to-be-invited-to-play-with-the-cool-kids” next year!

The weather was indeed much better today. Still a little chilly, still a bit cloudy, but no rain!!!
So we “returned to the scene of the crime” to revisit the wonderful potters today. My parents
returned to the first two stops, and then went off on their own to discover Stillwater & Hudson;
two local towns on the St. Croix River. So I hooked up with my friend Amy Higgason, and her
friend Katlyn. I’ve known Amy for years through our time together at Lillstreet Art Center.
She has since moved up to the Wisconsin Northwoods, but continues to make incredible
pottery way up north! Katlyn is a college student preparing to graduate in a week. She’s
worked with Amy over the years, with Amy acting as her mentor & teacher. It was great fun
to play with them both today – chatting, shopping, discussing, critiquing, and laughing
our way through the tour. We saw old friends, shared stories, talked with potters and made
new friends & contacts along the way. Some good-old-fashioned networking never hurts.

Today we spent a little more time actually “looking” at the work, since the frantic pace
and the race of shopping had subsided yesterday. It was fun to look at the work again with
fellow potters to discuss our likes, dislikes, preferences and “clay crushes” all day long.

One of Amy’s favorites is Sylvie Granatelli… okay, I bought one of her mugs yesterday too!
We all were impressed by her lines, shapes, carved textures and color pallate. Very nice.

Then we had a chance to chat with Laurie Shaman from Chicago. Laurie used to be the
Gallery Director at Lillstreet Art Center when I was first starting to take classes. I wasn’t
sure she would even know who I was, as our time there only overlapped for a couple years.
But Amy re-introduced us and she was indeed aware of me and my work. She’s no longer
working at Lillstreet, but instead has her studio just a few blocks down the street!

We then made our way to the studio of Linda Christianson where we met up with our
potter-friend Emily Murphy and her husband Ian. She introduced us to Kristin Pavelka
who has a whimsical & colorful approach to her work… much different from the other
potters invited to Linda Christianson’s place, including Dan Anderson. At this point,
I was becoming entranced by some of the textures & patterns…

Then we met up with my friend Steven Hill and introduced him to Amy & Katlyn.
His work is stunning and I’ve had the chance to work with Steven over the past couple
years on his marketing. He also had some great advice & insights for Katlyn as she
is just starting her ceramic career. In fact, now that I am “so-not-an-expert” on
Facebook, I encouraged him to set up his own Fan Page on Facebook. Which he did…
so show him that I was right, and search “Steven Hill Pottery” and click his “LIKE”
button to become a Facebook Fan of Steven’s work.

In the category wonderful studios, wouldn’t you like a large picture window overlooking
a beautiful prairie just like Jeff Oestreich?!

After visiting most of the official potters on the tour, we ran across a sign on the highway
that said “Pottery Sale” and an arrow pointing off to the side. We decided to give it a try
even though we knew they were not part of the “official” tour route. We were impressed
by this merry band of rogue potters… by their enthusiasm, signage and willingness to
become part of their own “tour.” The house was quite dilapidated, but the pots were quite
nice and very economical. From the sounds of it, our “rogue potters” were a teacher and
his students putting their work out there an capitalizing upon the hoards of pottery
enthusiasts traveling the area this weekend. BRILLIANT marketing plan!!! I love it.

We ended Pottery Tour Day Two with an evening with our friend Emily Murphy
who recently relocated up to Minneapolis from Chicago. We had dinner, toured
her house, saw her newly built studio area and some work in progress and waiting
for a kiln to finish them in… and celebrated Ian’s birthday.

It’s been a long day… and a long weekend. But I know I’ve had a wonderful trip,
and I think my parents had fun too. It’s always so inspiring to see so much great
pottery all at once. To see all of the customers coming out to support handmade craft.
To see such support for local artisans. To talk with fellow potters about their path.
To see all of the different “things” that can be made out of a simple lump of clay.
To realize that there is a larger audience out there looking for quality pottery.
Now if they would all just read this blog?! And more importantly…
How do I get “invited” to be a part of the Pottery Tour next year?!

Cold & rainy… but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We trudged out to see a LOT of pots!

The St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour is a wonderful chance to see some of the country’s
most celebrated potters all in one day… or two… or three. With seven different studio potters
opening their doors and inviting others, there are seven locations and forty-four potters
within close proximity. The tour is Friday, Saturday & Sunday. We did pretty good today –
and made it to all of the studios except for one. I’m continuing the tour tomorrow with
my friends Amy & Emily – making a second trip to each of them!

We started today at the studio of Bob Briscoe It’s a beautiful location off in the woods,
overlooking a little pond. The yard is lways full of large white tents full of pottery…
and tables & benches all around with even more pottery! Everywhere you look…
pottery!!! By some of the biggest names.

Including one of my very favorite potters… Matthew Metz. Typically you only get to
see his work, one or two pieces in a gallery, or on the pages of Ceramics Monthly. So
it’s always such a treat to see so much of his work all in one place! And have a chance
to look through them all and decide which “one?” you need to add to the collection.

And just for the record… while we’re sharing stories… I now own one of these beautiful jars!!!
Just to add to my “Matthew Metz Collection” already at home!

Other favorites… Steven Hill, Simon Levin, Suze Lindsay, Dan Anderson… the list goes on!

And these miniature porcelain vessels… so sweet, so small, so refined.
They remind me a LOT of the ceramic work by my friend Roberta Polfus!

New on the pottery tour this year, my parents’ new favorite potter: Ellen Grenadier!
Her work is a beautiful combination of slip, leaf impressions, stains and glazes.
The delicate details of the leaves are crisp & clean and quite elegant draped across the pots.

We continued the tour through the chilling rain. We made it to all but one of the studios.
At the last of our studio visits for the day, that of Guillermo Cuellar, I also met up with my
friend Amy Higgason. It was a lot of fun to get caught up, discuss the pottery and
“share our opinions” on some of the pieces. She used to be a potter at Lillstreet, but has
now moved up to Rhinelander area in Northern Wisconsin. She continues to make
beautiful pottery – check out her Pigeon Road Pottery website.

Each of the locations has its own style, its own artists, its own personality. My favorite
little bit of “personality” today was the brilliance shown at Connee Mayeron’s studio!
A little “creative problem solving” to keep the customers dry…

Let the games begin… forty-four wonderful potters all participating in one great pottery tour!
I’m going up to the Minnesota area for the weekend with my parents to participate in the
tour, see a lot of incredible work, be inspired, meet the artists… and possibly buy a few pots!

For complete details, and list of the participating potters, go to the tour website.
It’s an annual event, always over Mother’s Day Weekend. If you can’t make it this weekend,
mark your calendar for next year… and I’ll see you there!

The St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour – www.MinnesotaPotters.com

It was a long wait today… as the kiln temperature dropped ever so slowly.
I kept opening it slowly to “encourage” the cooling process; being careful
not to open it too quickly. When it got to about 250 degrees, I felt it was okay
to unbrick the door. And then it was time to start unloading the kiln.
Like a little kid on Christmas…

It’s always fun to unload the kiln – to see the results of your hard work. And to see how
things have been transformed during the atmospheric firing process. It was a very
tightly packed kiln. I was concerned that there may be some “dry patches” in the kiln
because it was packed too tight… luckily the soda made its way through the kiln and hit
everything quite nicely… if I do say so myself. Only two mugs were on the “drier” side.
All in all, it was a great firing with great results.

But then, after unloading and packing everything into boxes to get it home…
I still had to clean the kiln, scrape & kiln wash all the shelves, sweep out the fire box
and all of that fun stuff that comes with maintaining the kiln! Exhausting…

Today was firing day. A long day. But worthwhile when I get to open it in a couple days!
So I started early this morning by “pumping the flames” into the kiln. There are two burner
ports on the back of the soda kiln, one on each side of the chimney. It starts up slowly,
with gradual increases in gas & air to ramp it up for the first couple hours.

About a half-hour into it, I came down for the first turn-up, checked the kiln,
checked the flames, checked the reduction, checked the cone packs… only to be
surprised to find that the bottom cone pack was gone!!! Missing. No signs.
My guess is it must have exploded or fallen off the shards that held it in place.
Luckily, I rely on the top cone pack a lot more than the bottom.

During the firing, you’re “trapped” at the studio… can’t leave, can’t really start much
as you need to check the kiln throughout the day. So it’s a lot of finishing little projects,
cleaning, sweeping, dusting, trimming class demo’s, chatting and waiting for the kiln.
When the kiln finally begins to reach the top temperatures, it’s time to mix up the
soda mixture that will be introduced into the kiln. Who knew that such a “sloppy mess”
of soda ash, soda bicarbonate, whiting, wood chips & water could make your pots
look so great?! It looks like an odd mix of oatmeal & tuna?!

When the kiln is around cone 9, I start introducing the soda mixture into the kiln
on an angle iron. Dropping soda mixture into the kiln every 15-ish minutes until the mixture
is gone. Tonight I also had two assistants putting the soda in. Two of my beginning wheel
students were there working and had never really seen a kiln firing before. So I offered
to show it to them, and even let them put some of the soda in. Pam was surprised
how hot it was back by the kiln, and Chuck had that instant look of “pyro-addiction.”
He loved putting the soda in… the flames, the heat, the danger… he’s in!
And I loved having the help. After the soda is introduced, the flames come shooting out
of the peeps as the atmosphere inside the kiln is quite volatile – with the evaporated soda
mixtures flying all around the kiln and hitting the pots inside!

After all of the soda is in, I let the kiln continue longer so the soda can “soak” and spread
a little more as it gets to it’s top temperature and cone 10 finally drops! During that
soaking time, I had a chance to hang out with Chuck & Pam… and had to laugh at the
persistence, dedication & focused attention Chuck had as he was applying slip to one of
his pots! Not bad for one of my “tile-class-convert” wheelthrowing beginners, huh!!!

After a good soaking, it’s time to turn the kiln off… and it’s suddenly silent.
Turn off the gas. Turn off the blowers. Turn off the exhaust fans. Close the damper
and call it a night. Now it’s time to wait again… as a watched kiln never cools!

With my studio cart packed to the hilt, I was concerned if it was all going to fit.
And it didn’t. A few pieces will have to wait for my next soda kiln firing!