You’ve seen the kilns… you seen the loading.. now I have PILES of bisque.
Everywhere I turn in the studio… piles of bisque. Gotta start glazing soon…
if nothing else, to make a little more room to make more work?! Where to start?!

It’s coming soon… one of the biggest pottery events of the year!
So mark your calendar, convince your Mom to spend Mother’s Day Weekend
in Minnesota, and make a trip up towards the Twin Cities for a weekend of clay!!!

18th Annual Pottery Studio Tour & Sale
by the Minnesota Potters of the Upper St. Croix River.

Not only are there seven potter’s studios on the big tour… but each resident potter
invites other “equally famous” to share the weekend and their wares. All together,
there will be 44 “famous” potters on the tour. These are the names you see in all
of the clay magazines, galleries & workshops around the country. The resident potters
inviting you into their working studios are Linda Christianson, Richard Vincent,
Robert Briscoe, Will Severson, Jeff Oestreich, Connee Mayeron and Guillermo Cuellar.
We usually start our day at Bob Briscoe’s studio – as I think he has the “best” group
of invited potters in the tour… including my favorite Matt Metz. Here are just a few of the
ones I’m looking forward to seeing… to do a little shopping, get a little inspiration and quite
possibly add to my ever-growing-and-have-already-run-out-of-space mug collection!!!

Including my friend Steven Hill, maker of the beautiful pitcher in the bottom right corner!
When you see Steven at Richard Vincent’s place, be sure to say hello for me!

18th Annual Pottery Studio Tour & Sale
Friday, May 7th – noon-7:00pm
Saturday, May 8th – 10:00am-6:00pm
Sunday, May 9th – 11:00am-5:00pm
Check out their website for full details, maps, and a list of all the great potters!
www.MinnesotaPotters.com

Another loaded bisque kiln… layer by layer… piece by piece… firing today!!!
Love the challenge of stacking, nesting and piling in of as much work as you can fit in.
Guess I’m going to need to do some glazing – and get a soda kiln scheduled soon!

Layer One – flower pots, mugs and tiles!

Layer Two – bowls, flower pots, tumblers and more tiles.

Layer Three -bowls, mugs and a LOT more tiles!!!

Layer Four – bowls, flower pots, tumblers and tiles!

So while my bisque kiln cools tomorrow…
I’m taking a day off and heading out of town for a little hiking in the woods!

Last night’s topic for my Beginning Wheelthrowing class was “basic bowls.”
Truthfully, teaching my beginners how to make a bowl on purpose
instead of a cylinder gone bad and “oops, look I have a bowl” bowl.

So we started with basic bowl instructions & demonstrations. Then we took a quick break
from the demo as I sat down and quickly threw eight basic bowls. Then we regrouped &
discussed how to alter these basic bowls and turn them into something not “quite so basic.”
Before they knew it, the “strikingly similar” eight 2-pound bowls were suddenly all different
with the help of a little fluting, flaring, slip painting and a quick creativity.

I hope that they get the point that they should commit to their artwork and make it
their own. Anyone can make a smooth, round, plain bowl. That the clay is not as fragile
as they think… that they can push it a little further. And that a little effort, design
& creativity can make a huge difference in their bowls!

You know they’re my favorite… my “go to”…
my “don’t-know-what-to-make-so-I’ll-make-more-mugs”… never too many mugs!!!

So at Easter with the family, my best art fair “employees”…
aka my Mom & Dad… suggested that I make more of the grooved tumblers
that they got as Christmas gifts! Apparently, they really like the grooved lines
and how they fit perfectly in your fingers while drinking from them.

Of course I listened… as any good son should…
and I made more grooved tumblers… by popular demand.

In between all the bike rides… I do find time to throw!… trust me.

This evening I set about to turn the plain flower pots I threw yesterday
into more decorative flower pots with a LOT of stamping & rim fluting.
Some with some traditional stamping, and more with the newer, “bulgier” stamping
with fluted rims. A mix of old & new styles… still not sure how I’m going to glaze these?

Tomorrow I hope to trim them all and paint some slip accents.
And don’t forget to punch the drainage holes too!

We keep waiting for Spring… hoping that it’s around the corner somewhere?!
But as another cold front is headed towards Chicago, I’m in the studio making
flower pots for my early summer art fairs. Just in time for those Spring plantings!
So this afternoon after unloading my bisque, I threw 50-lbs. of flower pots!!!

So I unloaded my electric bisque kiln this afternoon, layer by layer…
and just for fun, counted the number of pieces in that firing.
I included the seven bowls by Karen Patinkin, but not the maquettes
by Lisa Harris… nor did I count my glaze test tiles. I guess I was just
counting the “real” pieces?!… either way, there was a LOT of work in there!

The final bisque tally?… 135 pieces!!!