It’s always amazing to me how a few grooved-line indentations & a squished top can make a simple sphere look so much like a pumpkin so quickly!

Tonight in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we finished off the session by sharing some finished vases. They had asked for a class “challenge”… and I gave them a TULIPIERES!!! During the session, several of them tackled building their own tulipiere vases! Clara went for three sections stacked with a mini vase on top! Christine made one piece with a beautiful blue & red glaze. Ashley combined her wheelthrown oval bases with extruded tubes. And I provided the fake tulips… I thought that was the most I could do!!!

So here’s a few more pictures of Clara’s tulipiere…

And here’s a few more picturs of Chritine’s tulipiere…

Plus, a few more shots of Ashley’s tulipiere…

We had a couple more who were tackling the tulipiere challenge… but ran into kiln issues and they weren’t quite done in time for class tonight!

While I’m still “struggling” to keep Summer alive… hanging on as long as I can… I must admit to myself that it is time to start focusing on my new Fall harvest. Starting with wheelthrown spheres… these little babies will be “pumpkintized” when they get to a soft leatherhard stage.

So every year for ART IN THE GARDEN, the artists do a bunch of fun collaboration projects for the show! Once again, I am teaming up with my pal Cory McCrory to do another fun collaboration… with my soda-fired textures & Cory’s colorful sense of whimsy!!! The big question every year is “What to do?” This year Cory came up with a new idea… and the “plan” kind of resolved itself with this plastic frame!!! More to come…

And mark you calendars now for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview, Illinois on Saturday, September 10th & Sunday, September 11th.

Kind of a sticky humid morning with lots of clouds along the lakefront… and a crazy-cool “cloud” of fog that rolled through the city as I was pedaling through. By the end of my ride, the skyline was practically gone… shrouded from view!

Suddenly a batch of porcelain mug forms have shown up in my studio… next up?… stamping, trimming, handles & colored flashing slip accents… in that order!

Playing with porcelain this gray, overcast & rainy morning…
doing my best to stay away from the overly crowded lakefront today!!!

So I guess when I told my Summer Campers to NOT get any glaze on the bottoms of their cups… something got lost in translation? Good thing they know how to use a sponge… start wiping!!!

Nice clouds. Sunrise colors. Shimmering ripples. Another beautiful morning along the lakefront… as long as you can ignore all of the sponsor tents, vendor tents & people flocking with their lawn chairs to watch the practice runs for this weekend’s Chicago Air & Water Show.

Mental note to self…
avoid the crowded lakefront this weekend.. pedal north instead!!!

Dramatic sunrise this morning as the winds blew in off the lake. Dark clouds & cool breezes with the sun peeking out & hiding throughout the morning!