Another beautiful day with the Fall colors just starting to pop out. A little too early for the “full Fall” color show… but still beautiful. So I decided to take the day to “play hooky” and hike around Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, Illinois. We used to camp here a lot when we were kids, so there were quite a few childhood flashbacks along the way! A great day to kick-back, relax and hike around the lake… THREE TIMES!!!

Another beautiful day to get out

Another morning with that hazy-smoky “filter” across the sky. It’s kinda weird to see the sun rising without a single cloud in the sky… and yet still somehow oddly “clouded” and NOT bright & shiny like one would expect it to be.

And if we’re having this kind of effects from the California wildfires here in Chicago… I can only imagine how much worse it gets as you get closer to the actual fires. Just one more thing making 2020 so “special” for everyone!!!

Today I did a bit of cleaning, detailing & accenting on my mugs with some colored flashing slips! With the “magic” of the soda kiln, this colored slip will change to a nice mustard yellow with some flashed modifications around the cup based on where the flames “kiss” the pot during firing.

Summer may be drawing to an end all too quickly, but there are still plenty of flowers to bring indoors to make it last just a bit longer. A few simple stems in an ikebana vase can make a dramatic splash on your table! And celebrating TEXTURE TUESDAY with these stamped & soda-fired textures!

Smoke in the sky… feathers in the sand.

Another foggy-hazy morning along the lakefront… except we found out yesterday it is neither fog nor haze!!! Apparently the crazy “sky filter” is actually smoke & ash that has made it up into our higher atmosphere all the way over from the California wildfires!!!! Who knew?!

Something new… just to make 2020 even more “special”!!!

And another batch of mugs done! Well, kinda…
still waiting for some clean-up, detailing & accenting
with colored flashing slips for the soda kiln.

Two done… eighteen more to go!
I always love when my making more mugs lines up with MUGSHOT MONDAY!!!

Score…. slip… attach… turning stamped cylinders into STAMPED MUGS!!! I’ve got twenty mugs to work my way through this morning. A labor of love as they are my favorite thing to make!!! Mugs, mugs & more mugs!!!

Enjoying the shadows thrown on my wedging table while I wait for these handles to stiffen up a bit before attaching. They’re still a bit too squishy to work with… gotta wait.