When an iris bloom breaks off the stem, don’t fret… just put it in a small water-filled sipper for a quick centerpiece that brings the iris beauty inside! Thanks for the idea Rosene!!!

Huge thanks to everyone who came out to the SCHAUMBURG PRAIRIE ARTS FESTIVAL this weekend. It was so great to finally see everyone’s smiling face again… we had fantastic weather both days too! I now have the fresh flowers from my booth in a stamped & soda-fire vase on my back porch. If you missed out this weekend, you can come next weekend to the HINSDALE FINE ARTS FAIR on June 4th & 5th.

Sweet little flowers need sweet little vases! Lily-of-the-Valley season is upon us… with a beautiful fragrance… and plenty of mini vases coming to the SCHAUMBURG PRAIRIE ARTS FESTIVAL this weekend!!! Just in time to show-off your mini blooms in a cutie-patootie vase!

One of my students was out today for a neighborhood “up-cycle event”… aka garage sale?… and she ran across this gem! One of my stamped & soda-fired vases from a couple years ago! Not only did Darcy get it for FREE… she also had a nice chat with the previous owner.

My favorite part… “it was a little faded on one side.” HA!!!…
or maybe just SODA-FIRED?!!!
You know… pottery doesn’t really “fade” all that much!!!

Enjoying the Spring flowers these days.
Still gray & chilly outside, but with a lot of beautiful colors popping up all over the neighborhood… and on my back porch!

With my soda kiln firing scheduled for next weekend, I’m in the final throws of studio production. Making enough to fill the kiln… and replenishing my inventory for the upcoming art fair season! Just another batch of wall pocket vases stamped, slipped & drying!

After a bit of stamping, these discs are getting so much closer… closer to becoming my latest batch of ikebana flower vases! Spring flowers will be here soon… and they’re going to need a home!

A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT!!!
Here’s a great story… follow along…

So I made some plain vases for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class for their Glazing Challenge. I had an extra one, so my friend & fellow teacher Chelsea glazed it during the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class. It came out beautiful. And then Chelsea gifted it to Clara for her birthday… and Clara is in my THROWDOWN class. So what started in THROWDOWN is now back for good with a THROWDOWN for good!

Happy Birthday Clara!!!

Last session, my friend & fellow teacher Chelsea was doing a class on different glazing techniques. And I “just happened” to have this large un-stamped & un-glazed vase on my teacher’s shelf… leftover from my Surface Decoration class almost a year ago! Good intentions for a good demo… but I never quite got around to it in class… don’t judge!

So I offered it up for Chelsea to play with as one of her class demos! Everyone knows that glazing is my least favorite step of the process… so if someone else volunteers, I’m all in! And she did an amazing job with several different glazes & techniques all playing well together! Thanks Chelsea… you can glaze more of my stuff any time!!!

Feels great to be getting back into “production mode”…
starting off with some smaller vases with some smaller stamps!
Gotta start somewhere, right???