During the St. Croix Pottery Tour, it was great to see some beautiful “sangam” pottery by Minsoo Yuh. We tried this technique last year in my Surface Decorations class… and great to see how it’s really done by a master! Much better detail & smoothness than when we tried it in class. Ha!!!

Basically, you stamp patterns all over your clay. Then add a layer of thick slip over everything and let it dry to leatherhard. Then you carefully “shave off” the top layer of slip to reveal the clay body surface and the “now-slip-filled” stamped impressions.

Beautiful pottery everywhere around the tour… but Spring is just making its way to Minnesota! So there were a lot of wonderful natural surprises to found on the tour as well.

This weekend was the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour! So great to go up for the tour – finally back in-person after two years of “virtualness” due to the pandemic. So much wonderful pottery everywhere, as well as time to chat with the potters. Time to touch the pottery, bask in the creativity, and to take some inspiration & ideas back home… as well as a “few” purchases along the way! We had amazing weather with beautiful blue skies and wonderful Spring temps in the 70’s!!! Huge THANKS to all of the studio hosts, the organizers and all of the potters who participate in this wonderful event… it’s a HUGE undertaking and they make it look so smooth & seamless! Kudos to you all!!!

So maybe I should learn better???… that sometimes Siri doesn’t know everything!?!! So when I got to Minneapolis, I asked Siri to give me driving directions to my friend Sarah’s home… and Siri gave me directions right away. So I followed them blindly, saw a few familiar sights along the way… and ended up HERE!!! At Sarah’s Studio location… and NOT her home! Siri was wrong… again… and yes, this is the SECOND TIME I’ve made this mistake!!! Ugh.

Driving north to Minneapolis last Thursday was so much fun… I love a good road trip… especially when you’re driving into the sunset. Plus great tunes on the radio & snacks on the seat next to you!!!

It’s been so long… too long… that I have been able to get-away for a fun weekend with friends. What with the pandemic, and work, and deadlines. But it was time… so I hopped in the car last Thursday for a beautiful, blue sky road trip up to Minnesota for the weekend!!!

Celebrating all the Moms out there…
cherish your time with them, and the memories without them.

Looks like Rosene is celebrating a wonderful MOTHER’S DAY with a couple new mugs… including a new stamped shamrock mug from her daughter Kristy… that we’ve been keeping “secret” from Rosene for months!!!

Getting things ready for tonight’s SURFACE DECORATIONS class demo. Sure, I might not be there tonight (road trip!!!)… but I’m confident that I have the BEST SUB EVER lined up & ready to put them through their paces!!! Can’t wait to see what they do to decorate these slip-covered bowls tonight!!!

My students LOVED last week’s “tie-dyed” demo night with my SURFACE DECORATIONS class. After the shaving cream demo, they all decided to give it a try… splashing colors, smelly shaving cream & water melting away the “evidence” to leave behind some great colored results!!!