I got a fun surprise “shout-out” by the folks at MKM Pottery Tools. There I was just casually scrolling through my Insta Feed… and suddenly… “Hey, that mug looks familiar?!”… and it was one of mine! Just another one of my “hybrid mugs” that are both wheelthrown & handbuilt. The top part is a textured slab made with my favorite carved handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools! So many patterns, so many options… thanks again MKM!!!

Sometimes a blue vase just makes the blue hydrangeas even prettier! A stamped & soda-fired oval vase helps spread out the flowers so you can see more hydrangeas side-to-side!

I spy with my little eye… one of my hybrid mugs out in the wild! This one appears to be having a “play-date” in Theresa’s studio up in Alaska! Looks like a great addition as she’s getting busy with her handbuilding slabs! Perfect for another Mugshot Monday!

And never fear… I still have a LOT of photos from Alaska to share… I just need to find the time!!!

Not all good things come out of a soda kiln! Every once in awhile you get a little extra sumthin’-sumthin’ that you hadn’t planned on. A little “gift” from the kiln gods. Like this splotch of soda build-up that looks like cooled lava? Surprising though… as this wall pocket vase was sitting flat horizontally on the shelf… and yet somehow the glop landed INSIDE the back edge??? ugh… one of the many joys of soda-firing!!!

Just another batch of hybrid mugs… ready to unload from this past weekend’s soda kiln. Refilling my “inventory” for this weekend’s art fair in Glenview! This Saturday & Sunday it’s ART IN THE GARDEN with a group of my talented friends!!!

Some of these will be there… and some will make their appearance at ART IN THE BARN a couple weeks later in Barrington!

A quick glimpse into my soda kiln… starting with a pretty perfect cone 10 !!!

And a little more eye candy… views from the front stack of this weekend’s soda kiln firing. Just in time for next weekends art fair in Glenview, Illinois. It’s time for ART IN THE GARDEN… a grassroots art fair with a bunch of artistic friends all pulling together to throw a pretty great art fair.

So it took my just about three hours to fully load the soda kiln… kinda like Pottery Tetris! Trying to fit in as much as possible, all the while trying to leave some space for air to flow through during the firing. The soda atmosphere needs to get in between everything to leave its glazed finish. I piled a LOT of work into this one! The back stack is a single shelf filled first to the top. Then front stack is a double-shelf filled up to the arch. It’s packed tight… so it might be a long firing today?!

Last night started with an empty soda kiln… full of possibilities.

Spent today playing hooky with my cousin Kim. We had a lot of great adventures & laughs along the way. We ended up at her place… where I saw her peach tree FULL of peaches. Too many peaches? Is there such a thing?… yes! They were EVERYWHERE!!! I can’t even imagine stepping out my back door to find hundreds of peaches at arms length. Crazy!!!

And yes… of course she sent me home with a bunch of homegrown peaches!!! So yummy!!!