Looks like my pal Kristin Conneely is pulling together some last-minute mosaic collaborations for ART IN THE GARDEN this weekend! And this one is a three-way… my orange nuggets, Cory’s leaves & Kristin will be mosaic-ing all around them!!! You’ll need to stop by this weekend to see the finished collaboration pieces!!!

Not all good things come out of a soda kiln! Every once in awhile you get a little extra sumthin’-sumthin’ that you hadn’t planned on. A little “gift” from the kiln gods. Like this splotch of soda build-up that looks like cooled lava? Surprising though… as this wall pocket vase was sitting flat horizontally on the shelf… and yet somehow the glop landed INSIDE the back edge??? ugh… one of the many joys of soda-firing!!!

Just another batch of hybrid mugs… ready to unload from this past weekend’s soda kiln. Refilling my “inventory” for this weekend’s art fair in Glenview! This Saturday & Sunday it’s ART IN THE GARDEN with a group of my talented friends!!!

Some of these will be there… and some will make their appearance at ART IN THE BARN a couple weeks later in Barrington!

A quick glimpse into my soda kiln… starting with a pretty perfect cone 10 !!!

Just a quick update… looks like “Cory Plan B” is well under way!!! Seems like the bugs are still coming to Glenview this weekend… perhaps just in a different “form” than originally expected?! More to come…

Taking a quick break from the ALASKA photos…
I have more, don’t worry… but today we’re back in Chicago!

For another stunning sunrise along the lakefront… with not a cloud in the sky!
It was a bit humid this morning…. errr, sweaty!… but oh, so very still & serene.

And a little more eye candy… views from the front stack of this weekend’s soda kiln firing. Just in time for next weekends art fair in Glenview, Illinois. It’s time for ART IN THE GARDEN… a grassroots art fair with a bunch of artistic friends all pulling together to throw a pretty great art fair.

After two amazing days of teaching my workshop with the Fairbanks Potters Guild, I had several demo pieces that needed to go somewhere… and not into my suitcase!!! So the four mugs were raffled off to four winners! Now they get to glaze & fire them. The bowl demos will be trimmed & glazed for their Empty Bowls fundraiser. And my large stamped platter will be finished & hang on the wall in Tammy’s studio where the workshop was held. Nice to know they’re all going somewhere good… better than squishing them up!!!

Day Two of my pottery workshop with the Fairbanks Potters Guild.
My fear was that when we returned to the studio all of their pots would be bone dry… or still soaking wet. I was hoping that they would be on the softer-side of leatherhard for good stamping… and they were!! YAY!!! We did a little heat-gunning to dry the stamps more before the potters arrived.

To get us started, I did a couple stamping demos using some bisqued stamps I brought with me. We also discussed how to use your texture tools to complement the design & shape of a pot… and maybe thinking the other way while throwing. Setting yourself up with a well-designed pot with good “canvas areas” for stamping later. So the stamps & textures are the focus, not an after-thought.

Throughout the day we stamped & textured everything. We also added some thick slip decorations to a few of the bowls… I love chattered slip!!! We trimmed our pots even though they were wetter than I would like. We even did a demo-on-demand for pulling handles… which I love! We also did some trimming & finishing of their hybrid mugs before adding handles. Again, we had a LOT of pots to work our way through… luckily we had all day!

This workshop was so much fun!!! They were a great group of people… so open, invested, encouraging & interactive. Everyone participated and I think had a great time making some newly-inspired pots. I was kind of wondering what I could offer a group of established potters… turns out there is always lot to share. I shared with them, and they shared with me! It will be interesting to see how they incorporate some of these new techniques into their pottery moving forward.

Huge thanks to all of the Fairbanks Potters Guild… you guys were the BEST!!! Thanks to my favorite Ida who was seemingly the all-knowing matriarch of the group… so much wisdom, so helpful, so nice!!! And thanks to Tammy for opening her studio & hosting the two-day event. Special thanks to Theresa for making this all happen. A simple email got me interested, and then Theresa worked out all of the details to make this workshop happen!!! Thanks to everyone for making this workshop a success & so much fun!!!

I love teaching. And I loved this workshop.
So if anyone else out there needs me to visit for a fun group workshop in your neck of the woods… just let me know! The more exotic the location the better!!! HA!!! I mean, it can’t hurt, right?!

After the workshop, we left all of the pots out to the air to dry. Tammy, the owner & host at RAVEN CITY CLAY STUDIO, took us out to dinner with her husband Matt. They were so nice, great conversations & good food. I actually had grilled halibut… as that’s the thing to do up there I guess. (Although my favorite fish is a “fish stick” as the vehicle to get that tartar sauce into my mouth.) After dinner, we took a little walk through the restaurant’s outdoor area overlooking the river. And it was the rusty metal that really got my attention!!! You know how much I LOVE rusty metal!!!

After dinner, we went back to the studio to cover the pots with plastic & left the stamps out to dry. Workshop Day One… DONE!!! So much fun with such nice people!!!