It’s amazing how fast 10-weeks flies by!
Tonight was the final class for my Beginning Wheel students. They were busy finishing up their pots, snacking at our potluck, chatting, laughing & hanging out. Basically solving all the problems of the world. And good thing we had plenty of sweets to keep everyone happy… especially me!!! I’ve trained them so well…

We finished our class with a “bowl” exchange game.
At some point we expanded the definition of “bowl” to any “vessel” they’ve made. Guess some students didn’t quite finish a bowl?! Anyway, after our “exchanging-trading-stealing” game, I came home with a great mug by one of my repeat students Nadine!!!

Tonight before class I had a wonderful visit with a fellow potter from South Carolina. Stephanie follows my blog and decided to put a visit to my studio on her itinerary while here in Chicago for her husband’s business trip. It was great to meet them both, talk pottery and give them a tour of Lillstreet Art Center. I hope they enjoyed their visit as much as I did… and Stephanie is taking a mug home as a souvenir!

“My Home For The Holidays” Home Show.
It’s my biggest pottery sale of the entire year with pottery in every room of my place! Food & drink in the kitchen. And the ever-popular “Tired Of Shlepping Sale” on the back porch. Mark your calendar now for November 23rd & 24th from 10:00am-6:00pm. More details to come… and now I need to make more pots! Quick!!!

It was fun to come into the Lillstreet Gallery this evening and see a great table setting FULL of dinnerware by my friend & potter Delores Fortuna. It’s not every day you get to see so much of Delores’ great pots all in one place!!!

It’s always great to see my pottery out there being used.
So glad my friend Kelly is enjoying her wall pocket vase…
and keeping it full of beautiful Fall flowers!

We didn’t get very far… until we stopped at Joe Christensen‘s studio in Hudson, Wisconsin to see some huge pots, vessels & sculptures with wonderful textures, carving, slip patterns & sgraffito. Not surprisingly, larger pots using more clay take a lot more time to dry. So these large vessels have been sitting out for days, and are different stages of dryness. The darker the stoneware clay, the wetter the clay is.

And you thought those ones were big… check out this huge one still sitting on the wheel…

You know how I love texture & pattern… so I knew I had to share these great surfaces with all of you. Some especially wide & deep sgrafitto through the white slip layer.

On the other side of Joe’s workspace are some finished pots. Already glazed & fired.
Now just waiting to go home with a satisfied customer!

For those of you in the Chicago area, Joe and his huge pots will once again be on display at “One Of A Kind” over the first weekend of December. Click here for more information about Joe Christiansen.

So I’ve assembled all of the teapots and decided that some of them needed a little more attention. A little pop of color here & there with some colored flashing slips.

Teapot #1 – slip painted accents on lid & each stamp.

Teapot #2 – just stamped… I figure this one will be glazed with a light coat of temoku.

Teapot #3 – slip painted accents on lid & each stamp.

Teapot #4 – slip painted accents on lid & each stamp.

Teapot #5 – just stamped… I figure this one will be glazed with a light coat of temoku.

Teapot #6 – slip painted accents on lid & each stamp.

So now they’re all assembled & slip painted… and wrapped overnight one more time so they can “dry together” a little bit slower. One they’ve settled in together, I’ll unwrap them tomorrow night so they can start drying… so that they’re ready for my upcoming bisque kiln!

Today I assembled some new mini “pitcher” creamers. The cylinders are thrown, and then I added some textured pieces here & there to finish them off. Some quick handles… and then they’re back under plastic wrap for the night. I like to keep my work under plastic overnight so that handles & handbuilt add-on’s have a chance to balance out moisture levels with the cylinders before they start to dry together!

Special thanks to my friend Cory McCrory for the “pitcher” creamer inspiration. She never ceases to amaze me with her boundless whimsy & creativity. I’ve loved the black & white pitcher of hers in my “Cory Collection.” So much so that I had to do my own variation on a theme!