So this is what happens when you grab that little scrap of plastic on your worktable… give the clay inside a little squish… and only THEN realize that it has the ornament that you just trimmed about ten minutes ago!!! Ugh.

Must stay focused… just trying to finish up a few last minute projects in the studio before the holidays!

Just spending a little “quality time” with my diamond grinding disc from DiamondCore Tools !!! Cleaning off a few drippy soda-fired. bottoms. Notice the mug bottom before & after… plus a few more to come!

Just put the grinding bat on the wheel, wet the disc, wet the pot, press… spin… grind… CLEAN!!! Thank you DiamondCore Tools for making this ugly task so much easier & smoother!!!

Goopey-gloppy fun! Another wonderful pile of reclaimed clay. Lots of scraps, trimmings & dried clay reconstituted into new clay!!! Now I just need to let it sit here on my plaster bat for a few days to help suck out the extra moisture… and then it’s just a LOT of wedging until it’s back to good re-usable FREE CLAY!

Good thing my new underglazes arrived in time… the new batch of Ghouls wouldn’t be nearly as cute if they were all terra cotta “rusty orange” colored! Some times some Ghouls really need some RED!!!

Made some good progress on the newest Ghoul today.
Still have a LONG ways to go… but for now, they’re under wraps for the night!

So it’s been a very busy couple of weeks… finishing up Summer Camp AND throwing & glazing a lot of pots. I loaded the soda kiln late Friday night after the final day of camp. My studio cart travels from the second floor to the first floor kiln room on a rickety freight elevator. So I use a lot of masking tape as “seat belts” so none of them jump off along the way!

All done & drying… spouted, stamped & slip-painted… ready to go… currently cooling in the soda kiln! Okay, another belated photo posting. Now they’re almost ready for ART IN THE GARDEN next weekend in Glenview. These might “allegedly” be part of a collaboration project with my friend & “cohort in collaboration” Cory McCrory!!!

So I’ve been quite busy in the studio, what with full-day Summer Camps & evenings in the studio! So I’m a bit behind on posting photos… especially of these water carafes for ART IN THE GARDEN. They’re coming along quite nicely… and even further along now… actually in the kiln… as these photos were from a week ago! … oops!!!

With this being the hottest weekend of the summer, I’m tagged & ready for another Chicago Triathlon tomorrow! It’s going to be a sweaty race… as I’m currently in the studio sweating & racing to finish a new batch of oval vases. We’ve had no air conditioning on the second floor of Lillstreet for over a week now!!! Not good during the heat wave hitting Chicago this week! Just trying to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…

I always love a good studio process shot… like these sweet cups coming along in Cory McCrory’s studio! Looks like they now have bottoms… moving along nicely for our collaboration project!