Okay, so not all MUGSHOT MONDAYS are happy days… and this much loved mug has definitely seen better days. Looks like gravity got the best of it. Sadly, it was one of Matthew’s “favorite” mugs as he bought it on his first visit to my studio at Lillstreet Art Center. Guess you’ll just have to come back to Chicago sometime soon Matthew!!!

Early morning colors splashed across the clouds… but a few too many for the sun to shine through. Little peeks here & there… but mostly clouds. Quiet & still… and surprisingly warm.

HA!!! Saw this online & just had to share…

And YES, I admit it… I was on “Bozo Circus” back in my childhood!!! Yes, I am now officially old!!! And I was one of the luck kids chosen to play the group game at the end of the show. Sadly, not “Bozo Buckets”… but the group game. I had to hold a baseball bat vertically on the floor, while my partner stacked ceramic cups & saucers on the flat end of the bat. The tallest stack at the end of the game would win… AND WE WON!!! We each got a “ViewMaster 3D Scooby-Doo Slide Projector”!!! Which I really, REALLY wish I still had… it would make this story so much more colorful!!!

But who knew I would be playing with pottery even at such a young age?!
Perhaps that was the start of everything???

There’s a lot going on in that little corner of my kitchen… but one of my new orchid plants from Hausermann’s seems to be loving it there! It gets some filtered light all day… with a burst of sunshine in the late afternoon. This orchid is beautiful… tall & statuesque with so many striking flowers in bloom! I think it has found it’s new home in my kitchen!!!

After last week’s demo on “thick slip” with my SURFACE DECORATION class, I’ve continued working on this platter in my studio. Now that it’s leatherhard, I decided to start carving a texture all around the flange of the platter. So much nicer with my favorite DiamondCore Tools carving tool. Crisp, clean edges every time!

You gotta love when a surprise “care package” arrives in the mail… this time from my friend Tracy! Who may have seen “somewhere” that I have a thing for OREO’s?! So when she recently went to France, she brought back a box of French OREOs for me. I can’t quite read the ingredients list or the nutritional information… but I’m just assuming that I don’t “want” to see that anyway!

It is good to see there is some protein in OREO’s though!!!

Hard to believe that the ST. CROIX VALLEY POTTERY TOUR is just one month away! So exciting… can’t wait to drive up to see a LOT of amazing potters & pottery! And if I can get my taxes done this weekend, I’ll see how much is leftover to have fun “adding to my collection” up north in Minnesota!!! Can’t wait…

After last week’s “terrible” Irish Creme Thin OREO’s…
We approached this week’s new flavor with a bit of trepidation. Especially since I am NOT a fan of the real tiramisu dessert. I don’t drink coffee, I don’t drink alcohol, not a fan of puffy-squishy lady fingers… and that fluffy moussey stuff?! Not a fan… mousse???… is it pudding, is it frosting, is it whipped cream? What it is it trying to be? My “palate of a four-year-old” gets confused. Too many things I’m not excited about. But I digress…

So we tried the new OREO flavor this week… and I must admit it wasn’t all that bad. I mean, we finished the bag!!! Much better reviews from my students than last week’s package of Irish Creme… that we actually ended up throwing away the leftovers!!!

A true harbinger of Spring… a beautiful vase full of orange tulips for another Floral Friday!
Two different varieties of orange tulips to compliment my stamped & soda-fired vase.

After crackling slip, we spent the last half hour of our SURFACE DECORATION class making clay stamps. My goal is to have them bisqued quickly so we can start playing with them in next week’s class… where the focus will be “stamps & sprigs”!!!