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

Okay, so I’d say that I’m not a huge Adele fan.
Great voice. Incredible voice really…
but they all kinda sound a bit the same after awhile.

However… this video made me love Adele just a bit more.
Talk show host James Corden in the car with Adele driving & crooning.
Shows you the “real” Adele… and not just the wind-blown, sepia-toned, bun-wearing Adele we see in the videos! She’s cute, funny and again… INCREDIBLE VOICE!!!

Click here for the YouTube video – Adele Carpool Karaoke.

And here’s my favorite part…
When James Corden surprise Adele with his harmonizing abilities! So cute.

Categories: artists, patterns

So I saw a pretty great video on Facebook. I don’t do a lot of painting on my own work… but I can tell that this is pretty impressive. I love the attention-to-detail and manual dexterity. Love the patterns & designs. And I’m TOTALLY intrigued by the “glazing with a pastry bag” technique shown here. Pretty cool.

Click here for the video on Facebook.
Unfortunately, the page is originally in Arabic and I can’t find an artist reference?!

Categories: stamps, studio

Every year it seems like I have  “slow start” in the studio. Tough getting back into the swing of things. Tough “messing up” my beautifully clean holiday studio. But I’ve finished reclaiming clay… I’ve put away the holiday decorations… I’ve watered the plants… I’ve procrastinated enough. So tonight I finally kicked it into gear. And what better place to start than with some new stamps for the New Year?!

So I started to make stamps the way I always do. Made a few… but then decided I should mix it up a bit. So I looked around and found this really great wooden stamp that I picked up at NCECA last spring. I haven’t used it much… and it has been sitting on the shelf for quite awhile. So why not put it to use?!

So I took a small coil of clay and squished it into a portion of the Celtic design. Pressing in, squishing around and gently pulling the clay back out. Suddenly finding that the “reverse” pattern is pretty intriguing.

And if one worked well, why not make more?!…

And then I looked around and found a few more pieces to play with. Some laser-cut pieces of wood that I had not even pulled out of the packaging yet. I bought them, but haven’t really figured out how to use them. Here we go…

And then after a little more detailing… I think I might have a great stamp?!

So again… I kept making more. My thought is always that you should make a LOT of stamps… and along the way you’ll stumble on a few that you really love!!!

So by the end of the night, I have a few double-ended stamps drying for the night. These will dry and be bisqued before I can start using them.

Categories: mugs, porcelain, soda-fired, stamped

Fun flashing colors on a stamped & soda-fired porcelain mug.

#mugshotmonday

Categories: sunrise

The sunrise this morning was crazy cool… and by cool, I mean COLD!!!
The air temperature was so much colder than the water temperature that there appeared
to be steam coming off the water. Crazy, right?

Categories: friends, mugs

From my friend Allison… who tagged me in an Instagram post by @adesignproblem
I recognized that stamped & soda-fired mug right away!!!

I got a beautiful ceramic mug today from @apmolloy !  I love it!
What a nice little piece of inspiration — will definitely be packing it
when I go back to Milwaukee.

Categories: clay, porcelain, studio

Spent a couple hours in the studio tonight layering & wedging
my latest batch of porcelain reclaim.
EIGHTY-SEVEN POUNDS of FREE CLAY!!!

Well worth a little bit of labor.
And now I have 87 pounds of FREE porcelain potential!!!

Categories: classes, lillstreet

I just found out we have one last spot that just opened up for my Tuesday night Beginning Wheel throwing Class at Lillstreet Art Center. Who’s going to grab that last spot??? Don’t miss out! It’s no fun on the Waiting List.

Click here to register online.

Categories: bike, sunrise

Is there some inverse relationship I don’t know about?…
the colder the morning the “cooler” the sunrise???

Because the past couple days have been pretty darn incredible and COLD!!!

Did I mention cold?!!!

Categories: clay, porcelain, process, studio

Another batch of porcelain reclaim on the plaster bat setting up a bit…
wedging to commence soon!