It was a beautiful weekend full of BEAUTIFUL pottery up at the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. And it didn’t hurt any to have beautiful flowers gracing many of the handmade vases! Always one of my favorite pottery events of the year… with 73 potters all showing off their ceramic masterpieces at eight different studio locations. Several of my favorite potters are up there… so it’s always fun to see them too! Great fun traveling, shopping & chatting with potters making it all a wonderful community to be part of. Although it would be even more fun to be “part of the Tour” as a Guest Potter showing my work… and not just shopping the Tour!

For more information about the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour,
click here… www.minnesotapotters.com

Another wet start to a Sunday morning… easy enough to brighten the day with a vase full of lilac blossoms. The scent always transports me back to my childhood when lilac bushes surrounded many a suburban backyard.

Plenty of bisque piling up waiting to be glazed & wadded. First-up… inlaying a tenmoku glaze into the stamped impressions for high tener contrast after the soda-firing. Here we go… giddy-up!

Spring flowers to brighten up a Floral Friday… thanks Lynn for showing them off in one of my stamped vases!

Beautiful flowers in her new soda-fired vases! Looks like Rhonda is enjoying the vases she got out of the kiln from our LILLSTREET SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. Such a beautiful combination of colorful flowers, wonderful textures & earthy soda-fired finishes. So glad you came to my workshop Rhonda… I hope you had a good time!!!

Just doing a little stamping in the studio on another gray Saturday. Working on a new batch of ikebana flower vases… thrown, stamped & ready to trim! Just getting ready for Spring flowers ‘cuz I’m already done with this Winter grayness!

Celebrating TEXTURE TUESDAY with another stamped & soda-fired vase from my most recent firing. Another one making its “big debut” next weekend at my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!

Another sweet oval vase from my recent soda-firing. A little “before” shot with a tenmoku glaze inlaid into the stamped impressions. And then a couple “after” shots… after some sprayed green glaze… even better after a great soda-firing!

Stamped & soda-fired… a great example of how the soda kiln atmosphere affects the sides of the pot. Chemically altering the colored slip accents on each stamp… as they all started out the same. Also creating a great “orange-peel” effect on the sides of this oval vase. Just a reminder… there is no glaze on the outside of this pot other than the tenmoku inlay. All of the “shine” & “glaze” comes from the soda-firing process.

Sad, but true... I think this is the final dahlia of the season! I saw it blooming yesterday out in my garden. But when I saw a few little snowflakes this evening, I thought I would bring it inside to enjoy it a little longer. Perfect as a single bloom in one of my stamped & soda-fired ikebana vases!