It was a dark & cloudy start to my morning ride… kinda cold & gloomy… but my mood quickly improved when I found some Christmas lights that were still on to lift my holiday spirits! Loving these new sidewalk “arches” that seem to be popping up around the neighborhood.

We’re just a week away from Christmas… so it’s great to see that some of my handmade Christmas trees are popping up in people’s homes & holiday displays! Thanks for sharing your new trees… and Happy Holidays Tracy!

So this is what happens when you grab that little scrap of plastic on your worktable… give the clay inside a little squish… and only THEN realize that it has the ornament that you just trimmed about ten minutes ago!!! Ugh.

Must stay focused… just trying to finish up a few last minute projects in the studio before the holidays!

Just a little more stamping going on! This class demo platter has been under wraps for awhile… sprayed it a couple times… and finally did a little stamping & texturing. It’s always amazing to me to see what just ONE stamp can do to plain platter!!!

Last night I helped one of my students load her very FIRST KILN!

Christine has been testing every underglaze & clear glaze in class… and has been wanting to test the commercial celadons in cone six. So she saved some of her stamped work from class, spray-glazed them up with commercial glazes… and soon enough we should have some beautiful pots to show off! Can’t wait to see your results Christine!!!

Another pretty green platter fresh out of the kiln. A beautiful green glaze that highlights the stamped patterns & textures, as well as the concentric circles in the center… an ever-so-slight diversion from my typical spiral-addiction!!!

So I’ve been trying to grow some of my own bittersweet over the past few years. First on a trellis in my back yard…. err, cement courtyard in a large pot. A few years later I moved it to my front yard garden to grow up a street lamp. I’ve always gotten pretty good leaves… but this year was the first time I’ve ever found the flowers & berries on my plant! Very exciting… as it’s completely growing up & taking over the lamp post!!!

Another colorful bike ride along the lakefront this morning.
Low-flying clouds splashed with morning colors.

Looks like Christmas came early for these two… with Kristy & Matt spreading a little pottery love & Christmas magic with their friends! While at the same time showing off their own ever-growing pottery collection on those cool floating shelves in the background of their kitchen!

You gotta love it when the sun comes streaming through your window catching a Christmas crystal and making mini-rainbows appear in all the right places!