Well, I checked in today at the Chicago Triathlon Expo. Excited, and a bit nervous!
Got my bib number, my race packet, my t-shirt and some other swag along the way!
And saw the chart of start times… my Wave #40 will take off at 8:54am.

So my niece Taylor has one week of “freedom” left before she goes back to school.
Her mom has already started teaching so she’s spending some “quality time” with her
Grandparents… my Mom & Dad. So we decided to take her on a little adventure to
Six Flags Great America. Fully knowing that it was going to be a LONG day…
especially for Grandma & Grandpa as they get dragged around the park and
“cutely cajoled” into going on many of the rides!

We started the morning with an easy one… the landmark double-decker carrousel.

From the top level of the carrousel, Taylor spotted Daffy Duck & Scooby-Doo,
so when the ride stopped, we had to run over to meet them for a little photo-op!

So we all went on the Whizzer… a gentle little roller coaster to gauge Taylor’s readiness
to tackle the bigger rides. She did wonderful… my Mom, not so much. She was done with
the roller coasters! Taylor, on the other hand, was ready to tackle the American Eagle –
the iconic wooden roller coaster with the huge vertical drop!

Here we go… up the first big hill…

And then the big plummet… squealing like a little school girl the whole way… adorable!!!

She loved the first big plummeting drop… but then she saw the big curve coming up…
and then rickety bouncing that she wasn’t so thrilled about.

So the held on for dear life… as Grandpa watched from the seat behind.

Whew… she made it. Thrilled… and more than a little exhausted…

After her whirlwind ride on the American Eagle, Taylor chose a few “slower” rides which
Grandma was okay with too. Even though there was no plummeting drop, the rides did spin,
fling & whip around in circles pretty darn fast!

Of course, a trip to Six Flags Great America wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory
stuffed animal win at the game arcade. In fact, Taylor won this one for herself…
use the hammer, hit the target, ring the bell, win a prize! Luckily, we found one that said
“play until you win.” And she did…

I’m sure some of you may be wondering what is the “glitter gig”???
I refer to these cool projects I get to work on, show a few photos now & again,
but have never really discussed the “glitter gig” in detail. So here goes…

In addition to pottery, teaching, summer camps, biking and everything else…
I am also the Creative Director of a special events & production company in Chicago.
It all started about ten years ago when a fellow potter friend of mine asked if I wanted
to work a couple days down at Navy Pier decorating a few Christmas trees for
Winter WonderFest. Of course I said yes, who am I to turn down a paying job?!
So I decorated a few trees, organized a lot of ornaments and unknowingly,
worked my way into a wonderful job position! Over the years, everyone at the studio
could tell when I was working on holiday projects as I would show up covered in glitter.
Hence the name… the “glitter gig.”

So now, a few years later, I’m the Creative Director… which means I get to design
really cool parties & events. We’ve done some really fun parties for individuals, holidays,
corporate events and so much more! We do a lot of projects around the Chicago area,
but occasionally get to do a “gig” outside of Chicago. I’ve been to Grand Rapids, Las Vegas,
and now Dover, Delaware for some really cool events! I get to come up with cool ideas,
doodle, brainstorm themes, sketch, design, shop, work with fun clients and put together
pretty incredible thematic events & parties.

I never planned on working with a special events company.
I never even applied for the job, or even looked for a job.
It just kind of happened.
It hits so many of my skill sets and I get to be creative every day!
So that’s the “glitter gig” in a nutshell.

Finally back from a two-week “glitter gig” in Dover, Delaware.
Photos & stories to come once I sort through the hundreds of photos I took
during our preparations & decorations for the Firefly Music Festival.

For more information about the Firefly Music Festival, click here.

An ironically perfect day to fly to Dover, Delaware, huh???

Two months from today… The Chicago Triathlon.
I’m good with the biking. Guess it’s time to start running & swimming again?!

Okay, so lets back it up a bit… here’s the story about my HGTV Journey.
From the very beginning when they contacted me… up to tonight’s big HGTV debut!

It all started with a quick e-mail from the show Producer Nicole. Apparently, the show’s
host, Meg Caswell, likes to feature a local Chicago artist in most of her HGTV room
renovations. After some Internet searching, she landed on my blog. They contacted
me and asked if I might be interested in taking on the project. They were looking for a
Chicago ceramic to help them by making custom, handmade kitchen cabinet knobs
for an upcoming kitchen remodeling episode.

Of course, my first response was “YES – of course!!!”
But then my second thought was about how much I dislike special orders & commissions.
I debated for about 30 seconds and then dove right in!

I sent Nicole back an e-mail with some questions trying to nail down specifics. My
biggest concern was the tight turn-around time to the filming date & the install deadline.
Making handmade kitchen cabinet hardware is not a quick process. No clay piece is.
It not only takes time to actually form the pieces, but more time to dry, fire, stain,
fire again and attach the hardware pieces. I wanted to make sure I would be able meet
their deadlines before I accepted the challenge. Once I committed to Nicole…
the excitement kicked in!

With a couple e-mails back and forth, and some some input from Meg along the way,
Nicole and I pretty much nailed down what we were going to make… and Meg agreed!
They sent me the “style board” for the project which show the basic “vibe” or “mood”
of the new room design.

She explained “he” is Greek, and”she” is African-American. That there were using a lot of
Mediterranean inspired colors and textures, and they thought that the shapes and textures
of my Relic Rattles might give it a bit more of a Contemporary Tribal look.

As the filming day got closer, my studio got cleaner!
The night before, I cleaned my studio cleaner than it ever has been. Staging everything for
filming – facing everything, spacing everything, trying to make everything look good for TV.

It was an early morning when the filming day finally came round. And hot.
Filming was one of those surprisingly hot & steamy March days in Chicago. So early in the
year that no one had turned the air conditioning on yet. It wasn’t too bad until they turned
on all of those studio light in my tiny little space! Then it got really sweaty. And I was
positive that I was sweating right through my shirt!

So we filmed in my studio for a couple hours. Meg and I worked together to determine
what shapes & patterns we were making for the kitchen. Then it was my chance to get her
dirty and play in the clay. I showed her how I was going to make them, and she gave it at try.
I think she realized that it’s not quite as easy as she thought.

We also filmed some other footage of me working during different stages of the process.
It was funny to watch them filming in my small little studio. Trying to move around with
all of their cameras, lighting, crew, lighting, etc. And to be on the other side of the camera
with a wireless microphone recording every word… and the makeup artist right there
trying to make us look our best – and like we weren’t sweating it all off immediately!

The kitchen cabinet hardware we decided upon was a variation of the shapes I make
as Relic Rattles. They stared as textured little pods just for fun. You know how much
I love kiln-filler! So these silly, little “pods” have now taken on many different shapes
& forms… and now… they’ve become TV Stars too!!!

And now for the process…
To make the forms, I start with thin slabs of clay that I pull by hand. No slab roller.
No rolling pin. Just my hands, gravity and inertia. When I get the clay to a good thickness,
I press in the textures. The shapes are then cut out and cleaned up a bit. With a lot of
scoring & slipping, I form the shapes and keep the air trapped inside. Sometimes the “pods”
seem to flatten out a bit… so I literally “blow them up” like a balloon to keep them puffed up.
After it’s sealed, I poke a small hole with my needle tool, put it up to my lips and blow into
the clay. You can feel the “bulging” happen, then I press it together with my lips to trap
the air inside. Some last minute detailing on the edges… and Stage One is done. Oh yeah…
did I mention that you need to poke a tiny little hole somewhere so it doesn’t “explode”
as it shrinks during the drying process?

Once the pieces were almost dry, I made holes through one side where the hardware
was going to be added later. I had to guess how big to make the hole so that the shrinkage
rate wouldn’t make it too small for the hardware. Once they were punched, it was time
to dry. And then the first bisque kiln firing to cone 06.

Once bisqued, I painted them all with a coat of watered down iron oxide.

Once they were all covered, I gently wiped off the top surface with a damp sponge.
The goal is to clean off the top surface, but still leave good amount inside each of the stamped
impressions. The fun part is if you wipe too much out, you can always add some more
back in and do it again.

After wiping them all down, they were ready for the second firing – this time to cone 10.
Which is approximately 2350 degrees in a gas reduction kiln.

The high temperature firing makes them incredibly hard and vitrified. The clay takes on
a much darker color, and the remaining iron oxide was gives a nice warm hue on the surface
and a darker contrast line in the grooves. Luckily, I guessed well with the hole diameter
and the size is perfect even after two rounds of shinkage in the firings.

Then I attached the knob hardware to each piece. I epoxyed the metal hardware into place
through the back and attaching to the backside of the front piece. Once that layer of epoxy
had dried, I filled it in with a few more layers to make sire it was quite strong.

So that’s that. The work was done. The pieces fired. The hardware attached.
The show Producer stopped by my studio to pick them up so they could install them.
Mission accomplished. Now the waiting game to find out when it will air on TV.

And then… oh, but wait there’s more…

As if hours of footage in my studio weren’t enough… they called me back.
The show Producer asked if I would be available to come to the client’s home to film
some footage of me working with Meg to install the knobs onto their new cabinetry.
Of course I said yes… more TV time?!… I’m in!!!

So I showed up at the house to meet up with the film crew. I got a quick tour of the kitchen
as they were setting up the lighting and staging the kitchen for “The Big Reveal.” After a
quick trip to the make-up artist, and then to the sound guy to wire me up with a microphone,
I was finally ready for my time with Meg in the kitchen… as we installed a few knobs!
Sadly, that portion didn’t quite make it onto the screen. I’m sure it’s sitting on the
cutting room floor somewhere still.

But it was great to see how my custom cabinetry knobs & handles looked in the kitchen!
It was weird to finally see the “style board” come to life with MY handiwork in place.
The square knobs were installed on the kitchen cabinets. And the horn shapes were installed
horizontally onto the drawers. They turned out to be a beautiful compliment with the dark
ebony stained woodwork.

So funny to see how the kitchen came to life as we installed more knobs around the kitchen.

Of course I was a big fan of the glass tiles… very aquatic, very Mediterranean.
And the copper sink which worked so well with some of the “oranger” tones in the knobs.

While I was there waiting for filming, in between takes and while they were styling everything,
I did take a little “photo tour” of the kitchen to share with those who may have missed the show.

Oh yeah, and I “just happened” to bring a couple mugs with me as a gift to the homeowners!
Isn’t it great how they “just happened” to match the color scheme of the kitchen SO well?!
No mere coincidence I might say... My kitchen “house-warming gift” to them.

So that’s my story. By now I hope you’ve watched my “big debut” on HGTV…
and I hope that you don’t think I made too big of a fool of myself?!!!
It’s all in the editing…

Okay, my episode of “Meg’s Great Rooms” just aired on HGTV.
It seems so long ago that we made the pieces and filmed the episode.
I think it all looked great. The kitchen. The colors. The texture. MY KNOBS!!!
I especially liked seeing the couple’s reaction when they came in for the “Big Reveal.”
And even more, that one of the little kids pointed out the knobs!!!

I must admit I was hoping for a little more air time. But realistically, I knew that it was
only a 30 minute show… minus commercials… that doesn’t leave a lot of time for ME?!

We filmed close to five hours of footage in my studio, as well as some additional footage
of me in the house helping Meg install the knobs onto the cabinets. Sadly, there was a LOT
of footage left on the cutting room floor… as expected. With that, I think they also lost
a lot of my witty banter and snappy repartee! They missed some of the funny parts with
Meg working in the studio. Especially the part when she finished making her “twisted horn”
drawer pull and didn’t like it so much – so I reached over a squished it right in front of her!
And told her she can always make another one… it’s just clay!

I think I came off looking pretty professional – and they showed a good assortment the work
in my studio. I just wish I was identified better as “Fire When Ready Pottery” and not quite
so much Lillstreet. I’m sure they were going for more of a “community” feel.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the episode. I was excited when it got to my part.
When Meg finally came over to Lillstreet on the show, I must admit I got a little giddy,
even though I already knew what was going to happen!

I guess I should be excited about my “minute & forty seconds” of HGTV Fame!
In my head I was pretty much expecting it to be edited down to about 19 seconds!!!

If you’re setting your TiVO for my HGTV debut this Saturday night,
there have been a few “slight” changes. Nothing too big…
but this might help you find it on your DVR???

The new name of the HGTV show is “Meg’s Great Rooms”
and the title of my episode is “Kitchen Transformed With Texture.”
And it’s still all about me… well, at least 20-seconds of it?!!!

Remember, it’s on THIS Saturday night at 8:00pm Central… June 9, 2012.