Knowing that the winner of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW would win a glass cake plate “trophy”… I thought I would make a ceramic “trophy” cake plate for Martin just in case he didn’t win! BUT HE DID WIN!!! I thought tit would still be a great gift… so now he has TWO “trophies” to choose from next time he’s serving a homemade cake!!!… or bringing one to our pottery class???

Just because Lillstreet has no water & no classes tonight… didn’t mean I couldn’t get some stamping done in my studio tonight! No water needed for stamping… and it was a great “surprise” chance to put in a few hours working, instead of teaching! Sure, I missed my students… but I do LOVE stamping!!!

Day Two of the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR and the shelves are restocked for another great day. C’mon out to Booth 24 to say “Hi”… we’re on the corner of Lake & Waukegan until 5:00pm!!!

Okay, so I’ve been a little busy with unloading my soda kiln, scraping shelves, kiln washing the shelves, teaching & Summer Camping!!! So here are a few “delayed” shots from Monday night’s unloading. I’m pretty pleased with all of the bright pops of color throughout! So glad that soda-firing does not have to be all gray & brown all the time!

Looks like my cousin Kim is enjoying her bountiful harvest of homegrown strawberries this morning! They look scrumptious on those pancakes… and those pottery side pieces look pretty yummy too!

Okay, I couldn’t decide… so I got TWO!

Two sides to two cups to add to my already overwhelming Matthew Metz collection! Especially loving Matt’s new spiral texture technique of carving textures “behind” all of the slip & sgraffito carving!

Cup #1 –

Cup #2 –

So many pots. So many surfaces. So many different approaches to decorating your pottery surfaces. Here’s a collection of some of the ones that caught my eye during the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. Too much eye-candy to capture all of them… but so much fun to try!

For more St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour info… www.minnesotapottery.com

Sure, there may have been a bit of rain this weekend during the Minnesota Pottery Tour… but pottery always looks better when it’s wet!!! Plus, I kinda loved the rain drops splashing on the black platter & filling the white bowl… and the rain “shadows” on the wooden shelving.

It was a beautiful weekend full of BEAUTIFUL pottery up at the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. And it didn’t hurt any to have beautiful flowers gracing many of the handmade vases! Always one of my favorite pottery events of the year… with 73 potters all showing off their ceramic masterpieces at eight different studio locations. Several of my favorite potters are up there… so it’s always fun to see them too! Great fun traveling, shopping & chatting with potters making it all a wonderful community to be part of. Although it would be even more fun to be “part of the Tour” as a Guest Potter showing my work… and not just shopping the Tour!

For more information about the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour,
click here… www.minnesotapotters.com

Eight years ago this weekend, I started posting on Instagram. And this is a re-creation of my very first post! We were out for dinner and my friend & potter Emily Murphy grabbed my phone… pecked at it a bit… than handed it back and said “There, now you’re on Instagram!” The next morning I head out for the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour... and this very same sign post was my first Insta post. Several years later… and the “Instagram Addiction” is real!!! – @firewhenreadypottery