Looks like Cory McCrory is busy in the studio “laboring” this Labor Day… still making more parts & pieces for our ART IN THE GARDEN collaboration project. We’ll be debuting our one-of-a-kind limited edition pieces next weekend in Glenview!!

Just a quick glimpse into Cory McCrory’s studio as she is working on our collaboration pieces for ART IN THE GARDEN. I see lots of parts & pieces in the making… can’t wait to see how she puts all of these little treasures together!!!

Don’t forget ART IN THE GARDEN is coming soon with lots of great collaboration projects amongst the artists! September 7th & 8th in Glenview. For more details… www.grassrootsartfair.com

One last step before I hand them off to Cory McCrory to start her part of our collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN. It’s one of the coolest parts of that art fair… where all of the artists have a chance to do some fun collaboration projects with other artists. One-of-a-kind artworks that may never happen again! Just a great chance for we artists to “play together”.. and then share our craft with all of you. And some lucky customers will get to go home with these pieces at ART IN THE GARDEN. More to come…

Just doing a little early morning stamping in the studio. These are destined for ART IN THE GARDEN in two weeks… and my pal Cory has some great plans to add her own kind of “magic” to them first!!! You know how I LOVE collaboration projects!!!

Kinda diggin’ this early morning production thing! Cranking out some flower pots early this morning… before heading back outside to play this afternoon! Gotta get these moving… as ART IN THE GARDEN is now just two weeks away!

By the end of the week, we had SEVEN full trays of chess pieces. All painted with underglaze… and hopefully all scored & slipped with poked air holes. Very impressive to see them all together like this… tray after tray after tray. A grand total of 382 CHESS PIECES!!! Not bad for a one-week camp… as I had a wonderful group of campers! It was a fitting end to another successful CHESS CAMP!!!

As Friday neared an end, it was a full-on press to get all of the CHESS CAMP pieces painted with underglazes. So much fun seeing their terra cotta pieces come to life in color. Even better when they get glazed & fired with clear glaze later! The kids had a great time painting… and they were thrilled with the results!

It was Friday of CHESS CAMP… and one of the campers was falling behind and did NOT have all of his pieces built yet. So it was all-hands-on-deck to help Henry… and it was so great to watch all of the other kids pitch in so eagerly! Assembly line, score, slip, score, slip… GO!!!

Last week at Summer Camp it was my favorite week… CHESS CAMP!!! And yes, my 9-10 year old campers made full chess sets out of clay! All handbuilt to their own imagination. Lots of parts, lots of pieces… and “hopefully” a LOT of scoring & slipping to hold it all together!

With summer over… so are the Summer Art Fairs! But always fun to look back to a fun art fair highlight! I loved the collaboration birdhouses I made with my pal Cory McCrory for ART IN THE GARDEN… and the excited shoppers who scored one of the ten colorful birdhouses! Such a fun collaboration project… and so fun seeing everyone with their whimsical new birdhouses!

Can’t wait to do another collaboration with Cory for next year…
for the 10th Anniversary of ART IN THE GARDEN!!!

And an extra special birdhouse… where she “just had to have” this birdhouse with the two bluebirds on top. And then she explained that she is a TWIN… and loved the two birds on top!!!