Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: production, stamps, textures

I’ve been working like crazy trying to get everything done in the studio for “Art In The Barn.”
Of course, I’m running a little late...

But I am trying a new form this time. I’ve made textured slab vases for a couple years. Each with a different pattern & color on each side. This time around I decided to try a round vase, with a bit more of a “constructed” feel. These are brand new. And I hope they all hold-up and work properly. And survive the firing.

Of course I should have tried just one prototype to check first.
But that’s just not how I work. So I dove right in and made a full batch.
Two sizes… and I’m hoping they survive.

Especially since they’re still wet and have been under plastic all day. I just added some colored slip accents, they’re sitting in front of a fan… and in just a few minutes will be going into a bisque kiln. Yikes! If they don’t get in, they won’t be out soon enough to glaze them and get them into my soda kiln. And if they don’t make it into my soda kiln… they don’t make it to “Art In The Barn.” And that would be bad… so, fingers crossed…

2 Comments

Patty

September 24th, 2014

Love these forms! How thick did you roll the clay out for these? 1/4 inch or more?

October 2nd, 2014

PATTY – First off, I don’t “roll out” my clay. I throw my slabs by hand stretching the clay on my work table. Pick it up, slam it down on an angle and watch it stretch to a smooth, flat slab. Then I compress and smooth it out. For these new round vases the clay was about 1/4″ in thickness. But next time, I think I would go a bit thicker. I wasn’t too thrilled with the final result after soda firing. I had some warping in the top areas where the clay was unsupported, and some cracking in the thin spots where the textures were a bit too deep. I’m not sure if it was a construction problem, a firing issue, or the fact that I rushed them through EVERY step of the process. I will definitely continue with this form and try to resolve some of the issues from the first batch. Thanks for checking. GARY

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