A few weeks ago someone turned me onto Shein. This was both great and expensive. I immediately bought $40 worth of placemats. The one that made this bowl was described as a placemat, but I have no idea how you'd use it as one in real life. It's really 3D, a bowl or plate would not lay flat on it.

However, it makes amazing pottery texture I draped this over my wok mold and added a foot. I'm really excited to see the finished product.

Everything I make with cardinals and birches flies off the shelf. I decided to try to make some larger items and see if those sell as I've noticed I don't sell nearly as many large platters as I do small plates. I really like how this platter turned out. The rim template is a cutter from De La Designs.

A few years ago I planted a Thai basil plant in my front yard, or maybe it was in a pot. The origin was 1 plant, but now every year it grows on it's own. Multiple Thai basil plants grow to small bushes.

We've been having this summer like fall so it's grown even bigger this year. This weekend was the last of the warm weather (it's November) so I went and snipped all the basil to make pesto.

So.

Much.

Basil.




I made pesto for about 3 hours. Pesto is pretty simple to make...basil, nuts (pine, walnut, pecan), olive oil, parmesan. The time consuming part is taking all the leaves off the basil stems. Once you have a pile of basil put it into the food processor. I wait until I have about 3-4 cups worth. Turn the processor on and then through the little tunnel add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then add in your nuts and cheese. Scrape down the sides and add more oil if needed.

I freeze the pesto in my canning jars.

Next year I'm going to start making holiday stuff in July. I'm frantically making a bunch now for my final show of the year. This adorable set is made with stamps from De La Designs and Gifts. These are in Laguna 60, but I'm also making a few more in B-Mix. I ordered more Laguna 60, but it hasn't been shipped yet so I'm down to my last 50 pounds.

I'm getting ready for my last show of the year coming up on December 3rd making wintery items. The show is the Howard County Holiday Mart. Tickets are available online for $5, but if you use the code HOLIDAY50 you get $1 so tickets are only $4. While this is my first year at the show, this is the 50th year for the Holiday Mart and I'm really excited for it. Hope to see you there!


Both of these bowls were made with winter themed placemats. The one above is a poinsettia and the one below a snowflake. Both were made with a slab, the texture rolled in and then I used a needle tool to cut around the placemat to create the edging. The slabs were then draped over a mold. For the poinsettia I used a large one I made myself from the inside of a wok. The snowflake was one of Michael Harbridge's puzzling molds. Both got rather large foot rims so that they'd look elegant off the table.

I feel like the poinsettia has to be red, but what color for the snowflake?

Several pieces of mine will be at the Harford Artists Association Gallery in Bel Air, MD in their Wonders of Winter gallery exhibit through January 8th. The opening reception is November 12th from 1-4. I feel so fancy having my work in a gallery even if it is just a quaint little one near home.

When I dropped everything off the gallery was in a state of flux as all the walls were bare and they were bringing in all the work for the new exhibit. I can't wait to see everything displayed. If you're local it's definitely worth dropping by to see during the opening or just during their normal hours. They are located just behind the Bel Air Armory.