Once the kiln cooled off enough, I started unloading. Layer by layer. Shelf by shelf. By the time I was done, I was excited about the new assortment of berry bowls, mugs, tumblers, soap dispensers, bowls, tumblers, tiles & more!

Just in time for my next art fair in a couple weeks.
Evanston Lakeshore Art Fair on Saturday, August 3rd & Sunday, August 4th.

And here’s a quick peek at the latest batch of glazed mugs…

I’m especially fond of this blue-ish glaze on mugs thrown with B-Clay. I like how it pools, puddles and accentuates all of the stamping! Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

From this photo she just shared on Facebook, you can tell that my cousin Kim has a bumper crop of cherries growing on the tree in her backyard. Today was apparently cherry-picking day. Luckily, she found a nice oval casserole to put them in.

Now I hope she decides to make a pie or two to share!... or jelly… or jam!!!

Not only was tonight our last class, but it was also my class Bowl Exchange. Everyone brings in a bowl. We “disguise” them in bags and then we do a kind of “White Elephant-Yankee Swap Game” to trade ’em up! Some blind choosing, some trading, some stealing… others being too nice to steal! Luckily, in the end, I came home with this sweet white bowl made by Yukari… with just the most subtle of pinks on the inside!

My day started with a bike ride along the lakefront. Much like many other mornings.
However, I had somehow forgotten once again that “other people” may want to use my bike path once in awhile. I mean, I get so accustomed to pretty much having the entire bike trail to myself, gladly sharing with a few joggers, pretty much every morning. Then all of a sudden, on a busy Saturday morning, there were THOUSANDS of people on MY bike trial. The nerve!!!

So while I was getting re-accustomed to “sharing” the bike trail, if I must, it was pretty nice to see the Avon Breast Cancer Walk  using the path. So many people out walking for a great cause. And it was great fun to see one of my former bosses Bob Smusz, the “Good Bob”, doing the walk with his sister. Very touching, as she had just had a round of chemotherapy days earlier… and was out there walking with the rest of them like a trooper!

I finally made it down to Navy Pier where I met up with my friend Nancy. We met MANY years ago biking and have been friends ever since. She’s even the one who got me started taking pottery classes at Lillstreet. So it’s all her fault… Anyways, our plan was to pedal down to Hyde Park to visit the 57th Street Art Fair. So we head out South into the wind…

Once we were there, it was so much fun to walk around with Nancy, looking at a lot of great art and seeing a lot of “My Talented Friends.” So if you’re going to the 57th Street Art Fair tomorrow, be sure to stop by and say “hi” for me!

Sarah Chapman – my favorite metalsmith mostly using oxidized sterling silver

Karen Patinkin – decoratively glazed porcelain pottery

Roberta Polfus – the sweetest carved porcelain vessels, miniatures & pods

Delores Fortuna – functional stoneware pottery

Judy Zeddes – printmaking

Amy Taylor – groovy “hinged” jewelry

Glynnis Lessing – sgraffito porcelain pottery

Glenn Woods – one of “The Pottery Boys” with beautiful crystalline glazes

Mary Dye – functional soda-fired pottery

Teresa DeVer – gold & silver chain maille jewelry

I would also highly recommend the pulled pork sandwich… but I digress…

It was also fun to finally meet Mark Williams. He’s a potter up in Michigan who makes great textured pots. I’ve enjoyed them for years… perfect geometric pattern repetition… what’s not to like?! Anyway, the story goes like this… One of my students was up in the South Haven area of Michigan and stopped by a few pottery places. She came back and told me all about two of them. One of which was Mark Williams of Blue Star Pottery. Lori was impressed by his textures & patterns, and she knew I would like it as well. And she was right. So it was kind of ironic, and a great surprise, to finally meet him at the 57th Street Art Fair.

Also, while you’re there, if you have time you should also swing by the Community Arts Festival adjacent to the 57th Street Art Fair. Not quite the same caliber, some a little quirky, but some really fun stuff to see. If you go through that “Community” part, be sure to say “hi” to more of my friends…

Marian Casto-Palanyk – carved porcelain pottery
Melissa Banks – chain maille jewelry
Mary Zehnder – sculpture with a Southwestern flair!

The first of my Facebook Fans who stop by the booth and give us the code word “JAVA JIVE” will get to pick out their own FREE MUG! The race is on…

And remember, you can always follow Fire When Ready Pottery on Facebook.
Just click here for the link, and then hit the “LIKE” button for quick pottery updates, photos & stories in your News Feed. There’s always more on the blog, but for a “quick fix”… have fun on Facebook.

So we’re set-up and I decided to take a quick photo tour of the park that we’re set-up at for the weekend. Wildlife included. Plus, the sun has popped out for a few minutes! So here’s a quick tour… before the clouds decide to show up again.

But back to the matter at hand… and the clouds that came back in…
So we’re set-up and ready for the customers to come flooding in!!!

And another “bonus” at the Schaumburg art fair, we also get an extra 5-feet on the side of our tents. We’re not jammed tight side-to-side. A little breathing room! So, of course, I need to take advantage of that… and we now have our “Garden Annex” set-up with textured terra cotta planters, stamped flower pots, windowsill herb pots and groovy garden stakes!

With tomorrow being the kick-off of my Summer Art Fair season, I figure it’s perfect timing to share this brilliant video again. Sadly… it’s oh, so true. We’ve all been there. We’ve all seen it. We’ve all suffered through it. And if I’m lucky, maybe it will happen again this weekend. If it does, I’m sure I’ll have a good story to share! One of my favorite lines… “Like real pottery I buy at a store?”

Just promise me that YOU won’t be one of THOSE art fair people!!!

Click here to watch the video : “Potter At An Art Fair.”

It seems like I made these pieces so long ago, They survived the bisque firing, but I’ve been worried ever since about warping & slumping in the final cone 10 soda firing. Well, they finally went into the soda kiln last Friday… and made it back out WITH NO SLUMPING!!! Yeah! My first attempt at 10″ cake plates was a huge success! So there will be a very limited quantity of them at my first couple art fairs. It’s going to be first-come, first-served… just like cake. And if they get a good response, I’m sure I’ll be making more. And again, hoping that the new ones don’t slump. Just because they survived once doesn’t mean I can get cocky! And please disregard my poor photos. They were just taken quickly as I pulled things out of the kiln. They’re actually in the Lillstreet spray booth with some packing foam to cover some bad stains on the table! Glamorous, huh?

10″ Cake Plate #1  – with a hint of teal blue glaze

10″ Cake Plate #2  – with a touch of temoku

10″ Cake Plate #3  – with a smattering of matte blue glaze

10″ Cake Plate #4  – with a soft, satin yellowish sheen

10″ Cake Plate #5  – with some crackling slip “sealed” with temoku glaze for this crazy effect

Still a little hotter than I might like… but I couldn’t wait.
I figure as long as I can pull then out with bare hands they’re not too hot, right?!

Tonight I finally got to unload my soda kiln. You don’t know how tough it is to wait. You’ve worked so hard to make the stuff, waited for it to dry, fire it, glaze and then fire it again. You want to see it as soon as possible!!! But of course, the kiln decides to cool off at it’s own speed… and you can only open it when it’s good and ready. So finally… after waiting all day… I finally opened it… revealing the treasures inside brick by brick!

A little closer examination of my pots… and some kiln posts?!!!

So now everything is unloaded, packed up, piled into my car and shlepped into my storage room. Now I need to find some time to unpack everything, do a little prepping, cleaning, pricing and RE-packing to get ready for this weekend’s art fair in Schaumburg!