Another summer camp mishap… but they all learned another valuable lesson! This is what happens when someone doesn’t put the lid on correctly! Luckily, it’s just wax… and even better… it splattered so close to the floor drain!

Of course it wasn’t all fun & games in camp… as Isla didn’t quite pull her hair back far enough while throwing at the wheel! Her hair dangling too close to the spinning ball of clay. After several warnings… she ended up with a glop of clay tangled up in her curly locks!!! I gave her three options…

1. scissors

2. wash it out in the gross slop sink

3. let it dry completely and crumble it out later that night at home.

She chose option three… so this chunk dangled in her hair all day!!!
A good reminder for the other kids with long hair… listen to Gary!!!

Because I had such an amazing group of summer campers this week, I decided to go a little further with them… as they “requested” to do the Blindfolded Wheelthrowing Challenge! Turns out that Isla was one of the kids in the hallway that saw us doing a couple weeks ago. She brought it up.. and everyone jumped on the chance to try it out!!! So much fun to watch them throwing… and they all had a WONDERFUL TIME giving it a whirl. Most with good success & plenty of giggles!

This week in summer camp, I had a great group of “first-time” wheelthrowers! However, one of them was struggling a bit the first day and kept opening the ball of clay too wide and kept ending up with a “doughnut” of clay in their hands. Over & over again!!! I made a deal with Avery… that if they could figure it out and stop “ripping off doughnuts” I would teach them how to throw doughnuts on the wheel on purpose!

Avery figured it out… and many of my summer camp kids made clay doughnuts to celebrate Avery’s sweet success!!!

Is it still a lidded jar if it doesn’t have a lid on???

Just a quick question as I’m busy painting on some details & accents of colored flashing slips on my newest batch of smaller lidded jars!

For the record, it does have a lid… it’s just not on the jar while I’m painting them!

Sometimes a single flower can be enough.
Big impact from a homegrown dahlia in a handmade ikebana vase.

Overnight, the temperatures dropped over twenty degrees, the clouds moved in & the wind came with it!!! It was a WONDERFUL TAILWIND… for the first half riding south towards the City. The ride back… a bit more of a challenge.

On a separate note… it doesn’t look so good for Friday Morning Swim Club. As I pedaled past Montrose Harbor this morning on my way home, there were several police cars at the harbor with their blue lights flashing. This comes a week after there was an article in the Chicago SunTimes expressing safety concerns & park district restrictions. Hopefully things will get all worked out & the splashin’ Friday fun will continue!

Click here to read the Chicago SunTimes article.

Pretty plates for a tasty potluck… Monday night we celebrated our last class of the session with a yummy potluck. I brought the chocolate mousse cake, while Kristen made chocolate chip cookies! Food always tastes better on handmade pottery!!!

About a year ago during ART IN THE GARDEN 2022, I gave our mosaic artist Kristin Conneely a few “parts & pieces” with a challenge for her to work her “mosaic magic” as some collaboration projects for ART IN THE GARDEN 2023. She’s had plenty of time to work on them… so I can’t wait to see what she’s done & to share some pictures with you! I’m sure they’re going to be STUNNING… because she’s pretty amazing herself!!!

Here’s the latest batch of lidded jars on my wedging table. Kinda cute with their little finial knobs… actually wheelthrown onto the lid after trimming it dome-smooth!