As always, I’m starting off the New Year with another batch of New Stamps!
It felt great to get back in the studio and to get my hands dirty again!!!

Still a little too mushy & slushy for a good morning bike ride. But never too much for a beautiful sunrise. It’s been too long… and looking forward to the predicted “heat wave” of tomorrow in the 40′s!!!

Tonight is the first night of my new Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing class. And it looks like I’ve got more returning “Advanced Beginners” than newbies this time ’round. I’m going to try my best, but if I don’t win them over with clay, my demo’s & my snappy wit… then I’m prepared to get them with the sweets!!!

WARNING : I will be “infecting” all of my students tomorrow night during the first night of our new pottery session. My Beginning Wheel students better be ready… I hope their immunizations are up-to-date?!

For those who can’t quite ready the small type…
WARNING!   CERAMIC FEVER.  VERY CONTAGIOUS!
Symptoms: Continual complaint as to household duties. Paints day and night instead.
Sleepless nights dreaming up ideas. Anxiety waiting for final firing.
Swell head when you receive your first ribbon.

NO KNOWN CURE

TREATMENT: medication is useless. disease is not fatal.
Victim should attend as many classes as possible.

Thanks for sharing Emily Murphy… and for spreading your own contagion “Blog-itis Maximus” to me several years ago. YOU are very contagious as well!!!

Need some visual inspiration?
Need a quick fix of pottery, textures, patterns, tiles and more?!
Or a few more stunning sunrise?!

Click here to find my Pinterest Boards.

So what’s better than one ping-pong ball and one mousetrap?…

More than two thousand of each!!!… all cocked, lined up and ready to go…

Now everyone’s gotta love a good chain reaction.
And when one ball hits one mousetrap… pure entertainment pursues.

As seen on ViralNova.com…
Ahead of the 2014 New Year’s Eve celebrations, Pepsi Max helps its fans get in the party mood with a vibrant video that brings to life the sentiment of the social season. Instead of the traditional fireworks, Pepsi Max created its own explosion of colour using 2,014 mousetraps and 2,015 Ping-Pong balls to set off a spectacular and mesmerising chain reaction.

Okay. Sure it ends up being a commercial plug endorsement.
But it’s pretty cool nonetheless. Here’s a little “hint” of the fun to come…

Click here to see the full video on YouTube.

Look what showed up in my mail today?!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Marked my calendar already. You know where I’ll be playing & shopping come Mother’s Day Weekend. I’d love to see some of you up their filling in your own pottery collections too… as long as I get first dibs!!!

For more information, be sure to click here for their website : www.minnesotapotters.com

Remember… for a quick fix of Fire When Ready Pottery…
you can always Follow me on Facebook as well.
Click here for Fire When Ready Pottery on Facebook!!!

We’ve been hearing rumors of Facebook making it even tougher for small business in 2015. They’re trying to get us to pay money to “promote” our postings so that they will show up in your News Feed. So even though thousands of people all around the world have clicked “Like” and ASKED to be included, Facebook is randomly deciding who will get me posts and who won’t. There’s talk of even more changes coming in the New Year, so we’ll just have to hang on and see what comes of it.

Until then, please go to my pottery page on Facebook, and click the LIKE button. That way, you should get “some” of the postings in your News Feed. The more you “Comment” or “Like” a posting or photo, the more of my postings will show up in your News Feed… allegedly.

And please remember, you can always “Search” for Fire When Ready Pottery in Facebook, or click on the blue header in your News Feed to see all of my Facebook postings. And if that doesn’t work… know that this blog will always be available for you pottery diversions & inspirations. Thanks for following me any way you can!

Have a wonderful New Year – and good luck to us all with the ever-changing Facebook!!!

According to Pottery Making Info online…
What were the best pottery blogs in 2014?
If you have asked yourself this question or you just enjoy reading pottery blogs… Welcome! Below you will find the best pottery blogs of the past year. Does your favorite pottery blog make the list?

Click here to see the complete list of the Top 10 Pottery Blogs of 2014.

Apparently I’ve made the list… at NUMBER ONE!!! Yeah me!!!
Listed as The Best Pottery Blog of 2014. Wh0o-hoo!!!

More from Pottery Making Info online…
Gary is like a blogging machine. He is also a fantastic potter, avid bike rider and expert sunrise photographer. Check out his blog for some great photos of his pottery making process, the sunrise over Chicago and much more. Congratulations Gary, and thanks for sharing so much with us!

Thanks to everyone who has followed along with my blog over the years. I hope that I have somehow, at some times, either inspired, motivated or at least brought a smile to your face. Thanks for “putting up with” my obsession with stamping & addiction to biking. There are always times when you wonder if anyone is even reading my endless drivel… but apparently so. Who knew?

Special thanks also to my friend and fellow-potter (and former studio neighbor) Emily Murphy who got me started on this blogging adventure several years ago. At the time she was already blogging and I was very reluctant. I didn’t see the purpose. I doubted that blogging, or any social networking for that matter, would ever catch on. Who has time to sit down and read blogs?… I need to make pots!!! It just sounded like “one more hassle” that I would have to keep up with. Well, Emily was very persuasive AND persistent… and even help set-up & build the beginning of this blog. Thank you again Emily & Ian. Without you guys, I doubt I would have ever started this blog… and would never have become so addicted to sharing my stories, photos & sunrises!!!

So, thank you again to everyone who follows along with Fire When Ready Pottery.
I will try my best to make sure that 2015 is filled with more blog posts about pottery, techniques, My Talented Friends, sunrise bike rides, and anything else that I find intriguing and worth sharing. Keep following and I’ll keep posting!!!

Thanks Again.
And thanks to Pottery Making Info online for following, sharing my stories through their website… and for promoting & championing the world of Pottery for all of us who love it so dearly.

Another wonderful “pottery moment” shared on Facebook.
Thank you to my friend Pam for sharing my ceramic work with her parents. She organized the “Finding Forever Cup Exhibition” last November. I had sent two “matching” mugs for the show, along with three singles. Apparently her Mom was enthralled with the matched set as they represented Pam’s own two adopted children.

However, Pam felt they needed to go to the Exhibition instead of “skimming them off the top” for Mom’s Christmas Gift. Instead, she purchased a different “set” of mugs from me which I sent to her to wrap up for her Mom & Dad. It looks like they were a hit. A great memento from her first “Finding Forever” fundraising event and a wonderful “representation” of her own adopted children.

“Celebrating our second Christmas morning today.
My folks love their sibling mugs Gary!”    – Pam