Cute critters with curious cravings carved in clay! Fresh out of the kiln… now I just have to get them all cleaned, prepped, packed & priced for this weekend in Glenview for ART IN THE GARDEN! No dibs… it’s always “first-come, first-served” at ART IN THE GARDEN.

For more details & location info… www.grassrootsartfair.com

And speaking of “laboring” on Labor Day… now that metalsmith Amy Taylor has finished her part of our collaboration with all of her sgraffito doodles on my porcelain pieces, I can now get them into a glaze kiln quickly so they’re done & out in time for next weekend’s ART IN THE GARDEN! This one of the best features of ART IN THE GARDEN… several of the artists work together on different one-of-a-kind collaborations that will only be available next weekend in Glenview. And they’re all limited editions, so you might need to get there early!!!

Here’s a quick glimpse of a little “sumthin-sumthin” going on in Amy Taylor’s world. Just a little scratching, a little doodling, a little sgraffito-ing! Yes, metalsmiths can play with clay too… especially when it comes to collaboration projects for ART IN THE GARDEN!!! More to come… and mark your calendars for September 7th & 8th!!!

Time for another collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN. A few porcelain pieces with some black underglazed rims… getting ready for metalsmith Amy Taylor to do some sgraffito “magic” on them! Can’t wait to see the cute critters she carves into them this year!

Just doing a little more detailing on one of last week’s class demo bowls. We started with an ombre’ slip gradation from black to white slip in class. Then I did a little stamping along the rim. Followed by some carving through the slip using one of my favorite DiamondCore Tools for crisp, clean lines.

My final class demo for my SURFACE DECORATION class last Thursday was a fun & colorful floral pattern. I used black, red & green slip… and let it dry to a stiffer leatherheard surface. And then started carving through the layers with my DiamondCore Tools. It was a fun platter to work on… my first time doing a multi-colored sgraffito piece. I’m pretty pleased with this new direction… although I feel it still needs some more detailing & clean-up. I might just need to make more of these…

My students had a great time with their sgraffito projects last Thursday night. They all realized that the hardest part is making the very first mark carving through the colored slip. It’s like looking at a blank canvas & freaking out just a little about how & where to start. But once they started carving with my DiamondCore Tools … they found out how much fun it was… and how tough it is to stop!!!

After the sgraffito bowl, I went for a more geometric treatment of a larger dinner plate… carving through the band of black slip to reveal a pattern of the lighter clay body. Just trying to show my students that there are different styles… and that not all sgraffito needs to be so illustrative. Again, carving clean lines & smooth curves with my DiamondCore Tools.

This week in my SURFACE DECORATION class, it was Sgraffito Night! I had suggested that they all bring some leatherhard pieces to carve through. I did a couple demo pieces & my students did their own thing too!!! So much better with good carving tools from DiamondCore Tools! My first demo piece was this small bowl with an ombre’ blend of white & black slips.

Another huge THANK YOU to all of our loyal customers who came out to our grassroots ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. Especially those who got there and snatched up some of our one-of-a-kind collaboration projects! Like these black & white sgraffito platters… where I made the porcelain pieces & metalsmith Amy Taylor did the sgraffito doodles. I think they turned out great.. and they all disappeared very quickly!!! So thanks again for supporting your favorite artists!