With an early morning breakfast meeting on MY horizon today…
I had to start my bike ride a little earlier than usual. For the past few weeks,
only the first half of my ride was pitch black. The sun seems to rise somewhere
around my turn-around spot. But today… it was pitch black the entire ride!

But then minutes later… the sun began its rise and the sky began to brighten.
The entire sky turned from a dark blue to shades of pink & orange.
Washing the entire sky with waves of color. Stunning.

It was another dark morning on my bike.
Dark when I started. Dark as I pedaled south. Dark as I paused at Northerly Island.
Just as the sun was “thinking about” rising on the horizon…

Okay… so I love my Shimpo VL-Whisper Wheel.
When it works that is.

One day about three weeks ago, I came into the studio to sit down & make
some pots. I flipped on my wheel, stepped on the pedal and nothing happened.
No click. No noise. No spinning.         Dead.

Luckily, all of my throwing & trimming was done for “Art In The Barn.
So I wasn’t too panicked. But I did need to get it fixed. But when?!
I was going to be at the art fair that weekend – no time to get it fixed.

Luckily, a representative from Shimpo was coming to Lillstreet Art Center
that same weekend to do a throwing demo and to show off the Shimpo Wheels.
One quick phone call and they offered to fix my wheel when they came.
I was thrilled… it was going to be fixed without me even being there?!!!

So I came back to the studio after the weekend art fair, to find my wheel
all put back together and working smoothly. No note. No comments. No bill.
Apparently, he put in a whole new computer mother-board to fix it.
Wonderful… I love those people at Shimpo!!!     Until…

Last Wednesday night, I was in the studio trimming a bunch of mugs.
As I was trimming, my wheel started to slow down?… then it wouldn’t stop?…
it would spin really slowly instead of stopping. So I turned it off hoping that it
might reset something inside the wheel. Well it reset something alright…
and it wouldn’t turn back on!!! So another frantic call to Shimpo…

Today I talked to Yosuke Koizumi who is the same guy who “fixed it” last time.
He said that if I brought it into the Shimpo Office in Itasca, he could fix it for me
that day. So I did… and he did too! Apparently it was something wrong
in the foot pedal. As soon as he attached a new pedal – it started spinning
right away! Voila. Fixed again… and free again! So now I’m back in business!!!

Yosuke rocks!!!

Vote early. Vote often. Vote by this Saturday!!!

CBS2 Chicago is coordinating the publication if a coffee table book
featuring photography by local photographers. Thousands of photos
have been uploaded to the website – and now people are voting on
which ones should be include din the book.

And I would love to have mine chosen… this is where you come in.

Simply go to www.capturemychicago.com and register to vote. It’s free and all
they really ask for is your e-mail… presumably so they can notify you to purchase
the book when it’s done. If you don’t register, your vote doesn’t count.

So once your in… do a SEARCH for the following three picture titles.
Vote for each one to help stack the ballots in my favor. The following photos are
currently my top three vote-getters… so let’s push them over the top!!!

1.  Misty Morning Glow.

2.  Tree. Bike. Sunrise.

3.  Tiffany Stained Glass Dome

And then if you’re still having fun… and want to vote for more…
here’s the rest of my Top Ten.

4.  An Early Snow
5.  Sunrise Branches
6.  Spectacular Clouds
7.  Golden Maple Keys
8.  Chicago Sunrise
9.  Sunrise Ribbons
10. Morning Drama

After that… there’s still more than fifty of my other photos hoping for your vote!
You can also do a SEARCH for “Gary Jackson” to see the rest of my shots.
Plus thousands of other photographers shots you can vote for or against.
So have fun, place your votes… remember, the deadline is this Saturday 10/17.

My niece Taylor stopped by the studio today to play in the clay!
She brought her Mom & Dad (my sister) and her grandparents (my Mom & Dad)
to play with her. Since fall is quickly upon us, we decided to make autumn wreaths
out of terra cotta. We all started making clay leaves of different shapes & styles.

After we all had plenty of leaves, it was time to connect them all, layer them and
score & slip them all together to create our leaf wreaths. Layer after layer, leaf after leaf,
the wreaths came together. We then painted them with some underglazes to give
them some autumnal coloration. They’ll dry for the next couple days… then I’ll glaze them
and fire them! Sadly, we didn’t have quite enough time today. As always, the time flew by…
too many leaves, not enough time. So we did finish them… barely… but we would have
all liked another hour to finish them off & paint a few more details! Maybe next time?…

A mug is just a cylinder without a handle.
So to make a mug… you’ve got to get a handle on it.

Once my cylinders are stamped & trimmed, I make my handles while keeping
the cylinders wrapped in plastic to keep them from drying out too much.
I prefer to pull my handles separately, let them set up a bit and then attach them.
I start with a small wedge of clay, hold it firmly at the top and “pull” it down with
a firm hand and a lot of water. It’s basically just the friction that does it…
kind of the same motion like milking a cow! As the clay begins to stretch and become
more strap-like, I try to shape it and then bend it over to let it set up. Once they
have become a little stiff, the segment that will become the handle is cut out of the
bent strap. That segment is then attached to the side of the cylinder with a little
scoring & slipping. Once attached, I let them dry slowly to avoid cracking.

A  lot of people avoid making mugs because they are afraid of the making handles.
I actually love making mugs. In fact, if I could only make one form for the rest of
my pottery career, I’m pretty sure I would choose mugs. I love making mugs!!!

Back in the studio… replenishing he inventory… making more mugs!!!
After the pieces are thrown on the wheel, I allow them to dry partially so that they are
malleable, but not squishy. Once they are at the proper stiffness, I stamp the patterns
into the sides with my handmade stamps. After stamping, the bottoms of the pots
need to be finished to give them a more professional look.

I place the pieces back onto the wheel upside down and re-center them.
They are affixed to the wheel surface and then spun really fast. With a sharp trimming
tool, the clay is cut off the sides and bottom into thin ribbons of clay.

As the cylinder spins, and the ribbons of clay removed, you can finish off the bottom,
the sides and create a nice footring. The footring is the circle of clay that is left on
the bottom for your pot to stand on. This is your last chance to “finish off” the pot
before you let it begin to dry. Once dried… it’s off to the bisque kiln firing.

So… guess what showed up in my mail today?!
My wonderful “bowleragate” pendants from “My Talented Friend” Amy Taylor…
she sent me two custom made pendants to choose from. The rust one? The blue one?
And remember the “coolness” factor.. they’re made out of vintage bowling bowls!!!

Too tough to choose… I think I need them both!!!

Today was a spectacular morning. Possibly the best sunrise of the summer?!
It had so many variations… so many colors… in the course of about 15 minutes.
Simply gorgeous. Simply breathtaking. Simply perfect.

Here are just a few of the beautiful shots I took this morning during all the different phases
of the sunrise. From dark indigo, through blue, pink and orange. Sadly, after all of this
stunning beauty… as the sun cleared the horizon it went behind a cloud and it was gray
and rainy the rest of the day. Go figure.