Hazy skies & crashing waves. A bit more of a chilling wind than I expected… you can definitely feel Fall in the air this morning.

And who would I be if I didn’t celebrate a well-known national holiday?! No one… so I’m ready!!! Today was NATIONAL FLUFFERNUTTER DAY!!!

And my thought, why waste calories on the bread… all I need is a spoon!!!

After teaching class this morning, I zoomed off to Rock Cut State Park with my friend Tiffany. The weather was AMAZING again… and practically no one is there in the state parks during the week. A perfect combination… making for another perfect chance to get out of the City to relish in the beautiful Fall colors… again!

Another bisque kiln was unloaded this morning… and it had the sixteen “not-so-basic-bowls” from last week’s class demo in it. So here they are… including the basket I added a handle to. So now it looks like I’ve got a bit of glazing to do?!!!

Ugh. My least favorite part.

Not a bad ware board of “demo pots” from this morning’s wheelthrowing class. We tackled lidded jars – both traditional & my favorite “trick” jar. The lids we threw off-the-hump… and I had some clay left over on the hump… so we did some impromptu ornaments too!

Before teaching class this morning, I did a little more sgraffito carving on this large platter. I started the carving as part of last week’s class demo for my Intermediate class… but then kinda “forgot about it” under plastic in my studio. So now I’ve done a bit more carving & cleaning up with my DiamondCore Tools.

I think it looks a lot better than how I had left it after class?!

Some cute white flowers blooming in the garden. Not really sure what they are… but they’re pretty sweet little flowers blooming this late in the Summer… errr, I guess it’s technically Fall.

I keep forgetting…

Another collection of Ghouls all ready for Halloween!!!

I’ve been making a different Ghoul every year for over a decade. I make a Limited Edition of each character… and when they’re gone, they’re gone!!! This year’s character is the Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skull. I would typically sell them at ART IN THE BARN in Barrington… sadly, cancelled this year!

So this coming Saturday I will be hosting an online sale of my Ghouls Collection only on my Fire When Ready Pottery Facebook page… kicking off at ten minutes after ten am… get it?… 10/10@10:10am. Mark your calendar!!!

So after a full day of playing hooky in the perfectly beautiful outdoors… I did feel a tiny tinge of guilt… so I stopped by the studio to do a little stamping… and then THIS happened!!!!

So I just finished stamping another large platter.
One “magical” stamp doing most of the work!!!

Starting with just one line along the perimeter…

And if one line looks good… why not make it TWO?!!!

Two is good… but let’s go all the way with FOUR!!!

And here’s the handmade clay stamp that did “all” of the work!!!

The weather this week has been AMAZING!
So who could “blame me” for taking another day off to play hooky?!

I decided today to check out another one of our beautiful Illinois State Parks… by heading up to Moraine Hills State Park pretty far up in the north-eastern-most corner of Illinois. The Fall colors were pretty great, an incredible blue sky, perfect temps… and practically no one was there!!!

I did all three loops of the park and maybe passed a dozen people all day. I saw more sandhill cranes, snowy egrets & great blue herons than people… oh yeah, and two snakes!!!