Last night’s class demonstration was plates & platters. My beginners are progressing
quite nicely… cylinders, bowls, mugs… and now plates! I explained to them that plates
are fairly easy to throw, and that the drying & trimming of them is the hard part.
In class I threw two plates. But of course, I can’t leave a plate plain…
so tonight I stamped them up!

The class demo four-pound plate…

And now for the six-pound platter…

Plus, we have new clay at Lillstreet Art Center. For years we’ve had the same selections
of stoneware, B-Clay and porcelain. We’re now trying something new from Continental Clay.
It’s Stoneware with Ochre… which from what we’ve seen turns out to be a dark chocolate
brown after firing in a cone 10 reduction kiln. This is my first time trying the new clay…
hence the slight “greenish” hue in the clay. It was fun to throw with… although the color
was a little off-putting.

By now you know that I love a lot of patterns & textures!
And since I’ve already told stories of how incredible the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour
is in previous posts, I decided this year to show off the “Potters of the Minnesota Tour”
by their patterns & textures! There are forty-nine potters on the Tour, but I’ve narrowed
it down to just twenty. All of them would just be overwhelming… as is the Tour!
So here’s the game…

How many of these twenty potters can you name just based on their work?!
So here’s the deal… I’ll show you the close-up, you tell me the potter who made it!

Potter #1 -  ____________________

Potter #2 -  ____________________

Potter #3 –   ____________________

Potter #4 –   ____________________

Potter #5 -  ____________________

Potter #6 –   ____________________

Potter #7 –   ____________________

Potter #8 –   ____________________

Potter #9 –   ____________________

Potter #10 –   ____________________

Potter #11 –   ____________________

Potter #12 –   ____________________

Potter #13 –   ____________________

Potter #14 –   ____________________

Potter #15 –   ____________________

Potter #16 –   ____________________

Potter #17 –   ____________________

Potter #18 –   ____________________

Potter #19 –   ____________________

Potter #20 –   ____________________

You know… after looking at twenty of the fantastic potters showing up north
in the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour, it seems like something’s missing?!
There’s a lot of glazing… a lot of carving… a lot of atmospheric firing… but…

Don’t you think they need some obsessively stamped pots up there?! I’m just sayin’…

I love it when patterns, textures, slips & glazes all come together!
Just a few more “teaser textures” that jut came out of my soda kiln yesterday!!!

With my next soda kiln just a week away, I made one last batch of textured slab vases.
They’re perfect pieces to fit on the top shelf… hopefully fitting in perfectly along the
curve of the roof. Unfortunately, I only finished these yesterday, so they’re not quite dry!
But, I need to get them into my next bisque kiln if they’re going to make it into my
soda kiln next weekend. What to do?… well, I’m going to put them in, do a little
pre-heat, fire slowly and hope for the best!

With my next soda kiln less than two weeks away, it’s time to start making some of the taller
pieces that will go on the top shelves… and follow the curve of the roof quite nicely. These
large slab vases are a lot of fun to make with different textures on each side of each vase.

Now that they’re all stamped and ready to start drying, I just need to add some colored
slip details on them. Good thing Flat Stanley stopped by to help!

Yep, my first grade niece Taylor read one of the “Flat Stanley” books and is now watching
Stanley travel around. I received Flat Stanley in the mail yesterday and have about a week
to capture his travels and exploits around the city. I thought it only fitting that Flat Stanley’s
first stop would have to be the studio where Taylor loves to play in the mud!
Apparently Flat Stanley like to play in the mud too!

So tonight while I was in the studio, I checked the bowls we threw last night
during my Beginning Wheel class demo. They were protected under plastic
and drying slowly. Luckily, with a little patience, they were ready to stamp a
few details into a couple of them. If you want to compare them to the original,
check the blog post from yesterday… you’ll the difference a little stamping can do!!!

Bowl #2 – Flanged… and now stamped!

Bowl #3 – Flanged, Fluted & Flopped… and now stamped!

Bowl #4 – Wide Flange… and now stamped!

Bowl #6 – Divided, Pinched, Squared… and now stamped!
Once this one gets trimmed, I’m also planning on adding some little “balls” on top
of the four pinch points. I’m not really a fan of the “pinch marks.” So I think they’ll
need some “creative camouflage.”

Yesterday I spent the day with my cousin Michael from Minnesota and his family.
They came down to Chicago for Spring Break and we had planned a full day of clay fun
at the studio. We started making terra cotta planters with textures – everyone working
on their own planter. They all learned the basics… and set off to work…

And then, unfortunately… the day took a turn!
As we were about halfway done with our planters, I started feeling a little light-headed.
A little dizzy… and the next thing I knew, I was down for the count. Literally. Down.
Drama. Embarrassment. Paramedics. And a trip to the hospital to get checked out.

Apparently, I was dehydrated and my body wasn’t happy with that. They checked my vitals
and everything was fine. Except for the back of my head where it “met” the wedging table
on the way down. So I now have four staples on the back of my head. Yeah, souvenirs!

The doctor said I should get plenty of liquids and bring up my blood sugar level…
so we all went for a wonderful dinner at my favorite restaurant Rose Angeli’s.
And I had plenty of HOT caramel sauce for medicinal purposes!

More of my “catch-it-while-it’s-clean” studio photo tour… a little closer up this time!