A bit more carving with my favorite DiamondCore Tools … creating a fun texture covering the entire exterior of the bowl. For a hot-minute I considered carving the interior the same way… but didn’t… thought it might be too much to clean later?! But now I’m cautiously reconsidering…

And there it is… after “just a few” stampings! I’m always enamored by how the repetition of just one handmade stamp can transform a smooth platter into a crazy cool textured pattern. Each stamped pressed in one by one… by one… by one…

Fresh out of the soda kiln… and packing them up for this weekend’s ART IN THE BARN! I have a double booth again this year… so it’s twice the shelves & twice the pottery!!! I can’t wait to send some of these hybrid mugs off to new homes this weekend in Barrington!

After several hours of painting with underglazes, the textured hats are done & ready for a layer of clear glaze to finish them off. Then into a kiln later… hoping to get them cooled off before I bring them out to Barrington this weekend for ART IN THE BARN.

So like I said… I’ve been busy-BUSY!!! I typically make a Limited Edition of forty Ghouls each year for ART IN THE BARN. But why not make my job harder than usual?… and so decide to make a two-parter Ghoul this year?! Yes, my new Ghoul will come with a hat. I mean, who doesn’t like a Ghoul who can accessorize?! Yet at the same time… now I need to make forty hats AND forty Ghouls! That’s EIGHTY pieces instead of the usual forty!!! Yikes! At least I finished assembling the hats over the weekend… which gave me a bit more time to focus on the Ghouls!

So it’s been a VERY busy past couple days… knowing that I’ve got to get my new Halloween Ghouls done by this weekend! I’ve spent a LOT of time in the studio over the weekend!!! So I’ve been handbuilding… adding parts & pieces to create the characters… and texturing as much as I can! And it’s so much easier with great textured handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools.

Well, after all of the process posts… it’s finally time to show off our birdhouse collaborations for ART IN THE GARDEN. And I will say, I think this might be my favorite “Cory Collaboration” of all time!!! We’ve generally done separate parts & pieces that then go together or assemble later. This is the first time that we’ve actually “worked” on the exact same pieces passing them off part way through the process. I built all of the textured birdhouse.. and then Cory added on her pieces of whimsy!!! And I think that this “tighter” collaboration has really paid off. I can’t wait for people to see them this weekend at ART IN THE GARDEN. There are only ten of them… first come, first served… and sorry, no dibs ahead of time!

For more info – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

OMG!!!… I can’t believe how Cory has knocked this one out-of-the-park!!!

She’s added several layers of colored underglazes to our collaboration birdhouses… and I think they’re AMAZING!!! It might just be one of our best ART IN THE GARDEN collaborations ever! I can’t wait to see them in person this weekend!

Sadly, there are only TEN of them…. and there’s no calling dibs ahead of time… first come, first served at ART IN THE GARDEN. If there are any left after the show, we will offer them up online!

For more… www.grassrootsartfair.com

Here it is… the first “reveal” of the collaboration project that Cory McCrory & I are working on for ART IN THE GARDEN. I constructed the birdhouses with textured terra cotta slabs… and now Cory is embellishing them with her own sense of whimsy & fun! Her attachments are adorable… and I can’t wait to see them in COLOR!!!

For more details about ART IN THE GARDEN… click here… https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

More parts & pieces being added to our collaboration pieces! Looks like Cory McCrory has been busy playing with some terra cotta… much different than her usual paper clay… to make some whimsical additions to my textured part of the collaboration! Can’t wait for the “big reveal” next weekend at ART IN THE GARDEN!!!