Just days away!!! The NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR is this weekend. I’ll be at the Sandwich location out in the far west suburbs. I would start there & work your way back towards the Chicago to get the full “tour” experience. There are seven ceramic artists at our location… functional, whimsical, decorative, sculptural, traditional, textural & so much more. A little of everything!!! Mark your calendar, set the GPS, pack some snacks… and have fun roadtrippin’ around The Tour this weekend!

We’re now just two weeks away from the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR. So mark your calendar for June 8th & 9th to go road-trippin’ arounf northern Illinois to see a lOT of great pottery. I will once again be hanging out at the Sandwich location… at my friend Cory McCrory’s home & studio. Check out the website for locations & information – https://www.northernilpotterytour.com/

Always fun to have a fellow potter return to our PLANTS & POTTERY POP-UP SALE! I met Sadie down here last year… and this year she brought some more pottery-loving friends!!! A trifecta of stamped & soda-fired pots for the three of them!!!

I’m getting ready to “spring” right into art fair mode… starting this weekend with a fun pop-up in Central Illinois. I’ll be spending the weekend with my very first art fair friends… yes, they were right across the aisle from me many years ago! They were the seasoned veterans, and I was the unknowing newbie. They took me under their wings & we’ve been friends ever since! But I digress… they will be selling many of their own homegrown plants, and I’ll have an assortment of pottery! If you live in Central Illinois, this is the closest show you’ll find me at… so I hope you can stop by!!!

If not, my next three weekends are also booked with art fairs… with Schaumburg, Hinsdale & Sandwich for the Northern Illinois Pottery Tour… chronologically in that order. Mark your calendars!

Sadly, not quite everything fit into the kiln last night as I loaded into the wee-hours of the morning. As usual, I went through the mental waves of “I don’t have enough… I have way too much… I’m a gonna need to glaze more… this is never gonna fit… what am I doing… I think I need chocolate… still a lot of pots… oh, I think it’s going to be close… can I squeeze just a few more in?”

Well, the answer was NO. So it looks like I have a few leftovers… a nice start on building work for my next soda kiln, right???

Another great holiday… March 14th… 3/14… 3.14… it’s NATIONAL PI DAY!!!
And you know how I love to celebrate the holidays… even though I’ve never been good at math!!!

Just got home from teaching class… and it’s never too late to celebrate! As today is also NATIONAL CHERRY PIE DAY!!! And I’m ready to have a slice of the fun!!!

Imagine my surprise a few weeks back when I got a Facebook Message from Patty… a pottery friend & fellow Lillstreet teacher… who was visiting her daughter in Brooklyn and stopped by a small bookstore. She was excited to find that the bookstore featured a LOT of pottery books. Patty found this one that she thought would be good to show some new techniques to her beginner classes.

Flipping through… she found THIS photo that looked a bit familiar to her! So funny for her to find a book “out in nature” that features one of my pieces on page 61… under the category of “Impressing” as it is a British publication. Special THANKS to Patty for bringing another copy home for me too!!!

And yes, I was aware of it…
but it was published several years ago, so I had kinda forgotten about it?!
So it was a great “photo-refresher” from Patty!!!

On a dark & rainy night, this homemade french onion soup looks AMAZING… baked in handmade pottery with ooey-gooey cheese melting all over the place. Thanks to my cousin Kim for sharing her homemade gooey-goodness with us!