A little Halloween Eve fun in the studio tonight. Working on my ornaments while resisting (slightly) the urge to break out into The Time Warp. And I’m not too proud to say it… I know all the words and I’m not afraid to sing along!!! So I did.

At the “glitter gig” today we had a bunch of floral come back from yesterday’s events. Sadly, most of the flowers were destined for the dumpster. Except for the ones that I “saved”… and brought to the studio to share with my studio neighbors! A great surprise for three of my neighbors… and a great way to make a vase’s true destiny come to fruition!

In my studio, I now have some structural orange Asiatic lilies… hanging out in a stamped & soda-fired oval vase. Surprise huh?… you know orange is my favorite color. So of course I kept these ones for myself.

And a second group with some red roses in another stamped oval. I love the layered “organization” of a rose as it opens. Some structural repetition… sound familiar?

Over in Lisa Harris‘ studio, I used one of her rectangular footed box vases for an autumnal collection of roses, mums and kale. For more about Lisa’s work, click here.

In the corner, Karen Patinkin got a collection of vibrant red roses. Perfect for one of her porcelain vases with intricate glazing & decoration. For more about Karen’s work, click here.

And Cathi Schwalbe now has a medley of Fall flowers in one of her handmade tumblers. Mums, roses, flowering kale and some seeded eucalyptus. For more about Cathi’s work, click here.

So much fun to see a great splash of color in my neighbor’s studios. Knowing that the flowers should have been in the dumpster by now, but instead now get a “new life” in some beautiful handmade vases!

After cranking through a lot of work getting ready for ART IN THE BARN, I found that I had a lot of clay scraps to reclaim.I’ve been breaking them up and submerging them in my reclaim bucket. So the scraps have slaked down & re-hydrated to a very wet, gooey clay. So I turned it out onto a large plaster bat. The plaster will draw the water out of the clay quicker… and in a couple days I can start wedging it up for a LOT of “free” clay.

And then since I had an empty reclaim bin… I decied to wash it out and switch to reclaiming some porcelain. I had a few scraps of my own to break up. But I also had several clay bags full of porcelain from my friend & potter Emily.

So I started breaking them all up all of the scraps… and then dumped them into my reclaim bin with water.

But then I found several of Emily’s bags had clay that wasn’t quite dry yet. Reclaiming clay works so much better when you start with dry scraps. The water seems to soak in more evenly and faster. So I spread out the rest of Emily’s porcelain scraps so they can dry overnight.

More breaking, crushing, smashing and submerging tomorrow!!!

Look who stopped by my studio today for a class field trip…
The kids from the AP Art Class at Vernon Hills High School.

Their teacher Allison has been one of my friends & customers for a long time now. And she thought it would be great for them to stop by for a quick tour and some Q&A. So much fun… especially when the first question was “If there was a Taco Bell nearby?”

Got an early start in the studio this morning… as it’s going to be a LONG day of glazing!!!

As my latest bisque kiln continues to cool…
I thought I would get a start on all of the glazing that I need to get done!
And why not start with my favorite?… MUGS!!! Okay, so there’s a few.

Spent some time in the studio “detailing” this evening.

After this morning’s race, I went to the Bucktown Arts Festival to see some of My Talented Friends. A goo dchance to say hello, see some art and walk off a little stiffness. Then to the studio for some more “porcelain therapy.” Gotta wrap ’em up so I can get home early to pack my gear, eat well & go to bed early for tomorrow’s big adventure!

Today I added handles onto my latest batch of cylinders-to-be-mugs. They’ve been under wraps for a couple days, waiting for my schedule to calm down a bit. But tonight I bit the bullet and tackled the mugs! I start by making “carrot-shaped” wedges of clay.

I then hold them by the fat end and pull a traditional handle. When I get the strap to the right width & thickness, I do a quick flip-over to establish the curve of the handle. I let them set-up like that for a few minutes before I start attaching them to the cylinders.

After a lot of scoring, slipping & attaching… the cylinders are now officially MUGS!!!
So now that they’re attached, I’m keeping them under wraps so that the moisture levels can settle down and even out a bit. I will add some colored flashing slip accents to them before I leave them out to dry.

So I’ve collected another batch of clay scraps & trimmings.
I’ve dried them and smashed them as small as possible. Time to add some water so that the dried clay can slake down. I’ll leave it sit for a week or so and then turn it out onto a plaster bat so it can stiffen back up into “new” and usable clay!