One more reminder… in case you’ve missed any of my previous posts?… ART IN THE GARDEN is this weekend!!! Saturday & Sunday from 10:00am-5:00pm in Glenview. These sgraffito platters are just a couple of the collaboration projects you’ll find at the show. Amy Taylor & I have been working on these sgraffito pieces… but most of the other artists have been collaborating with each other as well. So there will be a LOT of one-of-a-kind collaborations you won’t find anywhere else! We’ve been having a great time working together on these pieces. We hope you come see the, in person!

For more details – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

Yep, there will definitely be flowers in the garden this weekend for ART IN THE GARDEN.
Kristin Conneely is gonna make sure of that!!!

Check it out – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

What a difference a soda-firing makes! My pumpkins were white going into the kiln…but they had actually been painted with a smooth orange flashing slip before bisque firing.

After they were exposed to the soda atmosphere during firing, that colored flashing slip “magically & chemically” transforms to a beautiful pumpkin orange color. Also highlighting the curves, creases & warts!!! Looks like we’ve had a great pumpkin harvest… so I’ll have plenty for both ART IN THE GARDEN and ART IN THE BARN!!!

Well, here’s the “Big Reveal” of my soda kiln firing from this past weekend. It’s always a labor of love… not just making all of the work, but also all of the loading, bricking the door, firing, putting in the soda mixture, unbricking the door, unloading the pots, packing it all up, scraping the kiln shelves, kiln washing the shelves, mopping the floor, and so many other “not-so-glamorous” tasks that are all part of the process. Most people think we “just make pots.” Well, there’s a LOT more to it than that!!!

But I’m pleased… my firing came out GREAT.
Nice bright colors… not too much gray “dolphin-skin” build-up! I need to prep & price everything now… getting it ready for ART IN THE GARDEN this weekend… as well as ART IN THE BARN two weeks later!!! Can’t wait to send them off to their new “forever homes.”

OMG!!!… I can’t believe how Cory has knocked this one out-of-the-park!!!

She’s added several layers of colored underglazes to our collaboration birdhouses… and I think they’re AMAZING!!! It might just be one of our best ART IN THE GARDEN collaborations ever! I can’t wait to see them in person this weekend!

Sadly, there are only TEN of them…. and there’s no calling dibs ahead of time… first come, first served at ART IN THE GARDEN. If there are any left after the show, we will offer them up online!

For more… www.grassrootsartfair.com

Yep, she’s good!!! I gave Kristin Conneely another frame to fill and she did it in no time fast! Another beautiful collaboration ready for ART IN THE GARDEN next weekend. I made the stamped ceramic frame, Kristin did her “mosaic magic” inside… and if you look closely, there are little leaves by Cory McCrory… making this a little 3-way collaboration!!!

It definitely feels like Fall is right around the corner. The zinnias are still beautiful, but you can tell they’re nearing the end of their season! Beautiful colors with great petal structure… but a few of them aren’t holding up so well. Enjoy the end of summer while you can…

And then, after a full day of firing the soda kiln & checking in on it throughout the day… when the final cone 10 goes down it’s time to turn it off. It’s always a weird feeling… as the noise you’ve heard all day long suddenly STOPS!!! The flames stop. The noise stops. Quiet. Done. And you just hope that everything went well… and the pots look great… although you know there’s nothing more you can really do at this point. So the silent & simmering soda kiln is a little eerie at the end. Fingers crossed as you head home for the night…

I fired the soda kiln on Saturday… and somehow the rest of the holiday weekend got away from me?!… too much playing outside I think… if that’s even possible? So I’m finally getting around to posting some pictures from my firing. It was a very smooth firing… if anything a little faster than I expected. When the final cones started dropping I was caught a little off-guard… and had a little bit of panic getting my soda mixture all ready. But all went well… and I put in the mixture every 15 minutes or so until it was done! You gotta love when the flames come shooting out like this towards the end of the firing!!!

Just a bit more of a “teaser”… a bit more of the sgraffito platters that Amy Taylor & I have been working on as our collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN. We’ll have a limited number of platters, shallow bowls & more with her whimsical illustrations hand-carved through black underglaze to reveal the white porcelain.

Mark your calendars… September 9th & 10th in Glenview!