Looks like my painter-friend Mary Foster has finished her mini-paintings for our latest collaboration project. My ceramic frames should be out of the glaze kiln soon… and then we just need to pair them up! Then we’ll be all ready for the BIG REVEAL this Friday evening for the kick-off of THE COZY COTTAGE POP-UP. We’ll be there on Saturday too… but no guarantee that our collaborations will still be there?! There’s a limited quantity… so it’s gonna be first come, first served!

Here’s some more details…

A little dull & dreary along the lakefront this morning… nice & warm, but a bit on the gray side. Sure, there was a glimmer of hope over Navy Pier… but it quickly dissipated and moved back to cloudy grayness. At least I got a moment or two of color… and another fun bike ride to start my day!!!

Summer is definitely over… Fall is here… and the leaves are already falling! I don’t mind Fall, I kind of enjoy the autumnal colors & the cooler weather. But I would like it to last a lot longer before the cold Winter weather settles in!

My mugs may be food-safe & dishwasher-safe… but they’re not gravity-safe! Always kinda kills me when someone sends me one of these pictures… but in the end… IT’S JUST CLAY!!!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Next weekend is another POP-UP art fair… handmade pottery along with a couple of My Talented Friends! The “cozy cottage” is actually the home of my friend & painter Mary Foster. We’ll be joined by metalsmith Amy Taylor & Karen Wilson with her artisan candles & more! It will be a fun Friday night & all day Saturday next weekend… with fun surprise Gift Bags for the first twenty-four people!

A serene skyline with a pastel sunrise shimmering on the calm morning lakefront.

With the sunrise coming an hour earlier after “Falling Back” with the time change… we had a simple sunrise with a single stripe of clouds running across the horizon. I always enjoy getting an “extra” hour in my mornings… more time for my sunrises!

When the kiln gets to its top temperatures, I introduce a mixture of soda ash, soda bicarbonate & wood chips into the kiln. The mixture combusts & sends the soda throughout the kiln… in effect “glazing” the pots as the flames travel through the kiln. As an added bonus… you also get these wonderful flames shooting out of every space & crack they can find!

Fairly early on in the firing, you put the kiln into body reduction which “forces” the gas to reach outside of the kiln to find the needed air. Which made these really cute flames dance & flutter above one of the peep bricks!

After a couple hours of loading the kiln last night, it’s always great to get to the end & brick up the door. One by one, brick by brick. Hiding the pots… knowing that we won’t see them again until after the soda-firing process works its “magic”… fingers crossed.