Time to have some textured fun in the studio again! My collection of MKM Pottery Tools handrollers has practically doubled. You can tell the difference… the clean new ones vs. the dusty loved ones… all of them just waiting to make some new impressions!!!

And while many of us… ME… are still working on our taxes…
it looks like Pam has been busy in the kitchen! And then sharing her “Salted Caramel Chocolate Oreo Pie.” It sure sounds good… I like every word in the title!!! And it looks pretty darn tasty in a handmade & stamped pie plate too!

So nice to see the star magnolia trees blooming again. One of my favorites every year. Such shame they only stick around for a short time.

Good thing there are “always” more where that come from!
Plenty of mugs for another MUGSHOT MONDAY…
and a LOT happier than Matthew’s broken one!!!

Okay, so not all MUGSHOT MONDAYS are happy days… and this much loved mug has definitely seen better days. Looks like gravity got the best of it. Sadly, it was one of Matthew’s “favorite” mugs as he bought it on his first visit to my studio at Lillstreet Art Center. Guess you’ll just have to come back to Chicago sometime soon Matthew!!!

Early morning colors splashed across the clouds… but a few too many for the sun to shine through. Little peeks here & there… but mostly clouds. Quiet & still… and surprisingly warm.

HA!!! Saw this online & just had to share…

And YES, I admit it… I was on “Bozo Circus” back in my childhood!!! Yes, I am now officially old!!! And I was one of the luck kids chosen to play the group game at the end of the show. Sadly, not “Bozo Buckets”… but the group game. I had to hold a baseball bat vertically on the floor, while my partner stacked ceramic cups & saucers on the flat end of the bat. The tallest stack at the end of the game would win… AND WE WON!!! We each got a “ViewMaster 3D Scooby-Doo Slide Projector”!!! Which I really, REALLY wish I still had… it would make this story so much more colorful!!!

But who knew I would be playing with pottery even at such a young age?!
Perhaps that was the start of everything???

There’s a lot going on in that little corner of my kitchen… but one of my new orchid plants from Hausermann’s seems to be loving it there! It gets some filtered light all day… with a burst of sunshine in the late afternoon. This orchid is beautiful… tall & statuesque with so many striking flowers in bloom! I think it has found it’s new home in my kitchen!!!

After last week’s demo on “thick slip” with my SURFACE DECORATION class, I’ve continued working on this platter in my studio. Now that it’s leatherhard, I decided to start carving a texture all around the flange of the platter. So much nicer with my favorite DiamondCore Tools carving tool. Crisp, clean edges every time!

You gotta love when a surprise “care package” arrives in the mail… this time from my friend Tracy! Who may have seen “somewhere” that I have a thing for OREO’s?! So when she recently went to France, she brought back a box of French OREOs for me. I can’t quite read the ingredients list or the nutritional information… but I’m just assuming that I don’t “want” to see that anyway!

It is good to see there is some protein in OREO’s though!!!