Apparently the bananas went a couple more days… by then successfully made a nice banana “bread-cake-pie?” baked in one of my handmade pie plates! Thanks for the photos Rosene.. looks YUMMY!!!

Ripe tomatoes propped in a beautiful blue berry bowl…
loving how the stamped texture frames the vine of tomatoes!

Another brisk morning in the single digits.
Loving the chilled mist & slushy ice on the lake.

Okay, so it’s been a hot minute… a couple weeks since… a couple holidays in between… but I’m finally getting around to showing off Christine’s beautiful pieces that came out of her VERY FIRST kiln firing!!!

Christine has been in my pottery classes for several sessions now… Beginning, Intermediate, Throwdown, Surface Decorations, etc. She’s always been on a quest to gather as much information as she can. She’s like a sponge in class trying to soak everything in. She’s been experimenting with everything she can get her hands on… lots of test tiles, underglazes, overglazes, hi-fire, low-fire. etc. She’s been getting a wide range of results – some beautiful, some not-so-much. So we’ve been discussing some other “options” for glazing of her work… particularly some of the stamped platters & bowls still unglazed from our Surface Decoration class almost a year ago!

One of the options we were discussing was Cone Six glazes. I’ve been doing some cone six firings myself with my work, and she’s liked the effects. So she expressed interest in trying that option… except Lillstreet doesn’t offer Cone Six firings to the students. So I worked with her independently as a friend & mentor instead of as her “teacher.” She glazed up her pieces with some commercial glazes she had purchased online… a group of “celadons” from Amaco. Loaded & fired… and now for the BIG REVEAL!!!…. sorry for the delay…

Here we go…
She started unloading the kiln… her first kiln ever! She had to learn how to load a kiln, stack the shelves, use the posts, etc. And now the excitement of her first kiln unloading!!! Shelf-by-shelf… revealing the treasures inside!

It was SO MUCH FOR ME to see the sheer joy & excitement on Christine’s face… or at least her forehead… every time she pulled out another piece! Large platters with a lot of handpainted underglaze details…

Or my favorite… surprise, surprise… this amazing stamped platter from our Surface Decoration class last Spring.

And a few more stamped beauties…

Followed by the bottom shelf with a lot of great colors! And especially intrigued by how the celadons from Amaco are making all of her textures & details really POP!!!

Plus, there were some wonderful “retro” mugs in her handpainted collection… so vibrant & fun when fired at Cone 6.

And some great “ombre” gradation mugs with sprayed glazes making the blend!

And again… my favorite stamped platter!!! Well done Christine!
I can’t wait to see where the success of this latest “test” by Christine takes her down her pottery path… as I’ll see her again in my class in the next session!

Always fun when your “friends worlds” collide!!! Like my friend Pam who has been using my friend Cory McCrory’s textured mug in her car… ‘cuz it’s cool… and ‘cuz it fits so well in the cup holder of Pam’s new car!!

A little early morning sunrise along the lake…
makes you think it just “might” be warmer than it really is outside!
Brrrr…

Looks like these bananas might be one-step away from becoming banana bread?! I wonder if you could bake it in a stamped pie dish instead of a bread pan??? I mean, they’re already in there, right?

Okay, so I might not have been a whiz in college when I took my “Thinking Logically” class. However… stick with me here. So when I got my first vaccine, I followed it with a trip to Lickity Split across the street for some yummy frozen custard… and felt no pain & no after-effects. So after my second shot… I did the same, with the same results. No pain, no nothing. So it only goes to “reason” that after my BOOSTER shot tonight I had to go back to Lickity Split purely for “medicinal purposes.” Hoping that maybe frozen custard is a preventative “cure” for any vaccination pain or after-effects. Fingers crossed, right?!

Doesn’t hurt any either that they still have my monthly flavor favorite… frozen egg nog custard, caramel sauce & ginger snaps all blended together! Yum… for “medicinal purposes”, right?!!!

One of the perks of working at Navy Pier so often is getting to play once & awhile… like a couple loops around the huge Centennial Ferris Wheel. Great views of the Pier… and the City from high above!

Spending some time with a few of my Holiday Elves!

Might have been cold & blustery outside today… but warm & tropical inside. Just enjoying a little more time inside The Crystal Gardens at Chicago’s landmark Navy Pier.