Pumpkin jack-o’lanterns loaded in the kiln for the night. They might look white now… but hopefully a good soda-firing tomorrow will make them turn orange! Fingers crossed…

Like I “need” any more beads in my life?! But when the Lillstreet Metals Dept. is cleaning out & literally giving away boxes of beads… it would be “wrong” if I didn’t take a handful or two, right???

Hard to believe that it’s already September… and that ART IN THE GARDEN is now just one week away!!! One of my favorite art fairs every year… a smaller, grassroots art fair with a bunch of My Talented Friends! We’ve been doing this for several years & it just gets bigger & better every year. Once again, several of the artists have been working together on their special one-of-a-kind collaboration projects. So much fun… so mark your calendars & we hope to see you next weekend!!!

Art In The Garden: A Grassroots Art Fair
Saturday, September 12th & Sunday, September 13th – Glenview, Illinois

For more details… click here… www.grassrootsartfair.com

Another morning with a lot of clouds crossing the sky. It was quiet & breezy… and you can feel that the humidity level has gone down just a little. Still sticky… but there was a slight coolness in the air. Hoping the heatwave is breaking up… and that we might have nice weather for the holiday weekend.

Looks like another collaboration project is coming along nicely. I can see that Kristin Dann Conneely is using some of my “textured color nuggets” in some of her mosaic pieces. One of the highlights of ART IN THE GARDEN is seeing all of the one-of-a-kind collaborations between some of the artists. And Kristin is pulling it together here with her mosaic magic!!!

A hundred & fourteen flowers… but who’s counting?
Now ready for soda-firing this weekend with glaze inlaid in the textures
& colored flashing slips for a “pop” of color!!!

Okay, so when I started making these flowers… I only expected to make “a few.” But you know me… I’m all in!!! No time for a sample. No time for a prototype. Instead… I just went crazy & made over a hundred flowers!!! Let’s hope this “plan” works out for ART IN THE GARDEN!!!

Another big glazing day!!! As I need to load tomorrow so I can fire the soda kiln this Saturday! It’s been crazy busy making enough work to fill the whole kiln… with some new work for ART IN THE GARDEN… followed by ART IN THE BARN!!! Since these pieces are being soda-fired, it’s mostly liner glazes & inlaid glazes for the stamped impressions! Lots to do still… giddy-up!

This Saturday, my pottery friend & studio neighbor Lesley is hosting a fundraising event for the ACLU – The American Civil Liberties Union. With plenty of potters donating their “seconds” to help protect the First Amendment. Lesley has collected more than a hundred mugs from all over the country for the event… including my “thematic” red, white & blue mugs!