Nothing like playing with some last-minute adhesives the night before the art fair.
Enjoying the fumes… and hoping they all dry before tomorrow!!!

A quick glimpse of my new ceramic spoons. Fresh from the kiln!
A few minor improvement sin mind for the next batch, but all in all pretty pleased with my first “attempt” at making ceramic spoons! They’re headed off to the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival for their “Big Reveal” this weekend. Stop by Saturday or Sunday to grab a spoon or two for yourself!!!

Saturday, May 23rd & Sunday, May 24th from 10:00am-5:00pm – Booth #51.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that they rattle too?… Fun, huh?!

Getting ready for my soda kiln…
so I glazed and added some colored slip accents to my latest batch of textured tiles. They still need to be wadded… with a LOT of wads, as I want to keep them as flat as possible. And let’s just say, the soda kiln doesn’t have a good reputation for keeping things flat & unwarped.

Tonight I made one last set of textured slab vases. My soda kiln is less than a week away, and tonight was my last chance to make new work… and HOPE that they’re dry in time to bisque fire!

I can’t help myself…
yet another batch of spoons ready for the bisque!!!

All this and I’m still not even sure how they’ll turn out?!
Some people would do a prototype test before diving head-first into full production mode.
I said “some” people…

So after a couple hours of Spring Cleaning in my storage room this weekend, I decided to do “tough love” and discard some old pieces, tiles, and tests. Just cleaning out and making room for more new work. So a hammer became the tool du jour… and now I have two boxes of beautiful shards. For the most part, they’re nice flat pieces of clay. Perfect for a mosaic project of some sort. And I would MUCH rather someone make something cool out of them before I toss then into the dumpster.

ANYONE WANT SOME FREE TEXTURED SHARDS???
First-cone, first-served… and we’re doing it on my Pottery Facebook page.
The first person to leave a Comment that they want one box, or both, will get them.
Don’t try to claim them here on the blog… check the Facebook posting for claiming them, or to check if they’re already gone?!

I just don’t want to ship them. If you could swing by my place or my studio to get them, or even pick them up at one of my summer art fairs, that would be great. I would love to see them go to a good home… and become some really cool art project!!!

A full box of soda-fired shards with slips & glazes fired to cone 10…

And a full box of terra cotta shards with black underglaze fired to cone 05…

TEXTURED SHARDS : CLAIMED 4.28.15... about 30 minutes after posting!!!
My college friend Kelly was the first to claim them. I’m sure she and her 10 kids will do some fantastic craft projects this summer. Can’t wait to see what they make… and I’m sure we’ll get photos to share here as well. Right, Kelly ???

Okay, sure I haven’t even fired the first batch yet…
but I’m kind of an “all-in” kinda guy. So without any real results,
I’ve already expanded my latest “spoon obsession” to include three more sizes!

The thinnest of ice layers. Shattered into beautiful shards & textures.

Well, it’s been awhile now… and time for another VIDEO on YouTube!!!
What with the Academy Awards coming in two weeks and all…

This time I tackled a softer platter than I’m accustomed to.
I threw the platter as a demo during my Tuesday night wheelthrowing class. It sat out during class and stiffened up more than I expected. So I brought it up to my studio, sprayed it really well with water and wrapped it up. Maybe too well.

As you know, timing is everything. And I knew that I had a certain “window of opportunity” to do some stamping… otherwise it might be too dry if I put it off any longer. So I forged ahead… and it was a little sticky. Typically I like the pot to be on the softer end of the “leather-hard” spectrum. But this one may have been a smidge too soft. If you watch closely, you can see the stamp sticking a bit… and more apparent, my fingers were sticking to the clay too!

But I decided to forge ahead… knowing that it might stick too much or slump too much.
It’s just clay, right?!

Click here to go to YouTube for “Another Stamped Platter.”

And since today we’re looking at textured tiles, let’s go one step further and look at some tiled installation pieces! More tiles means more fun, right?!