Came home from ART IN THE BARN with this beautiful porcelain tile from My Talented Friend Mike Skiersch. He hand carves the master tile and then makes a mold to produce these tiles. The glaze is one of studio recipes that looks incredible on his tiles. I love the color & the pooling. The crackling looks great on his tiles… not quite so good on my functional work.

To see more of Mike’s tile work, click here for his website.

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A beautiful morning to kick-off Day Two of ART IN THE BARN. So fun to be greeted by this smiling face when I arrived to replenish & restock the shelves. Come quick though… there’s only four Jack-o-Lanterns left!!!

After a big race day, it was fun to relax in the studio tonight stamping some mugs and making some more textured tiles.

Here’s a quick glimpse at the textured tile wall in my condo. Just under 3,000 tiles on the wall… each one handmade, textured & soda-fired. I love the wall and how the highlights & shadows play over the textures… (2,894 tiles in case you’re wondering.)

The best part of the story was when I was getting ready to install the tiles…

My Dad’s concern was what would happen if the weight of the tiles literally pulled the wall off the studs?! I innocently said “We put a new one back up?!”

And then my Mom’s question was how I was planning on cleaning the wall. To which my response was ‘Who cleans wall?”

A huge thanks to Allison and her family for sharing their breakfast with me… err, us!!!
Too bad they didn’t share the yummy muffins too?!!! Just the photos of them cooling on a fun trivet tray of textured tiles.

Great to be home after another long weekend of holiday celebrations with family & friends. Whew…

Just a glimpse of the tile wall in my condo… just short of three thousand tiles on my wall.

Once a piece of pottery leaves my hands I always kind of wonder where it ends up. So it’s been so much fun to see some photos of their final homes. Like these in JoAnn’s house… two tiled mirrors and three textured wall pillows. Perfectly framing the doorway. Perfectly lit to help accentuate the textures.

More holiday snacks… I’m “sure” they taste a LOT better when served in Fire When Ready Pottery!!! Oval casserole filled with chips, tiled trivet, candle votive and a wheelthrown ornament. Happy Holidays… and thanks for sharing your pottery-filled family gatherings with me!

If you have any photos from your holiday gatherings using my pottery, please e-mail them to me so I can share your pictures too. gary@firewhenreadypottery.com

My cousins in Minnesota are gearing up for the holidays. Three adorable kids looking forward to the Big Day. Oh yeah… and look at those great mirrors over the fireplace! Huh, pretty shnazzy, right?! I love how they’ve decorated my tiled mirrors for the holidays!!! Wish I could come up there to celebrate with my Minnesota cousins!

Merry Christmas Caroline, Christopher & Mitchell.

That Amy Taylor is such a tease!!! We can “almost” see what she’s been doing on our collaboration project. Remember, the BIG REVEAL is this Saturday at my place for our annual MUD & METAL Collaborative Holiday Home Show from 10:00am-6:00pm. She’s only making a few… so come early to snatch one up!!!