For those of you who have never been to my condo…
a quick glimpse inside while celebrating NATIONAL TILE DAY with a few shots of a tiled wall I made several years ago! All handmade, textured & soda-fired tiles filling the wall from floor to ceiling… from bedroom to bathroom.

While it’s still feeling a bit like Winter here… I’m looking forward to getting some leaves back on the trees around here! But until then… I guess some clay gingko leaves in my studio might have to be good enough. Especially when they’re headed to the “4×4 : Four Makers” Show coming up in two weeks! So far so good… but they still need to be glazed & fired… so fingers crossed!

Another quick batch of textured “tiles” getting ready for the kiln… hoping that this very loose plan will come together in time for “4×4 : Four Makers” in Evanston. It’s a bit sketchy still… fingers crossed…

You know I’ve always said “MORE IS MORE”… well “more” of these little tiles are starting to come together! I’m kind of excited with this new “plan”… hoping they all come together for my “4×4 Sculpture Show” the first weekend in March with my talented friends Sarah Chapman, Darlys Ewoldt & Robin Kittleson! Mark your calendars!!!

The final “surprise” challenge for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class was to interpret five different words onto five different tiles. They each received the same words & a blank tile, and then had fifteen minutes to “represent” the word on each tile. The words were PAISLEY, NOSTALGIA, CHAOS, FESTIVE and JUXTAPOSITION. Always fun for me as the observer to watch each of them approach a challenge in different ways – both in interpreting the word and their handbuilding approach & techniques!

CHAOS –

NOSTALGIA –

FESTIVE –

JUXTAPOSITION –

PAISLEY –

On the final night of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN, my students came in thinking they were pretty much done except for some critiques, judging & points… but they were WRONG!!! I surprised them with one last challenge… decorating tiles with only 15 minutes per tile.

And oh, but wait there’s more...
each of their five tiles had to each represent a different given word…
chosen by me!

Celebrating NATIONAL TILE DAY with a quick glimpse of my tile wall at home! Those who have made it to my Holiday Home Shows have had a chance to see it in person… but for the rest of you, here’s a few tiles to whet your appetite! Just shy of 3,000 handmade, stamped & soda-fired tiles on my wall.

So excited that this custom order was “delivered” during ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. Molly has one of my large ClayQuilts hanging on her wall… a wall hanging of smaller stamped & soda-fired handmade tiles. She thought it would be even better with three larger tiles hanging off to the side. So I made a few for her to choose from, and she chose these three to hang along with her original tile wall piece. I can’t wait for her to share the photos after they have been installed together! Hint, hint Molly!

And while we’ve been focused on my back porch today… I also have this tile installation back there. A bunch of glazed tiles hanging on a bunch of single nails. Always fun to swipe a hand across to make them all swing & swivel.

Celebrating NATIONAL TILE DAY with a quick glimpse of the tiled wall I made for my condo! Sure, it may be one of little known holidays… but still a fun “reason” to show-off my tiled wall. Usually just those folks who come to my Holiday Home Show gets to see it. There are just short of three thousand handmade soda-fired tiles on the wall… 2,894 for the record… with textures, patterns and a few hidden surprises!

So here’s a quick game for you…
Can you fund my initials in the mix of tiles?
As you scroll down it will get easier, so don’t cheat!