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

Wonderful & “hand”some gazing ball sculpture in Berger Park. I’ve ridden through the park many times over the years… and yet today was the first time I ever noticed this wonderful piece of art.

Categories: sunrise

Okay, so I might be bike-less currently, but that doesn’t mean I need to be sunrise-less! So I tied on my running shoes and went for a quick jog through the neighborhood and along the lakefront. A nice sunrise diversion!

 

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Categories: food, holiday
Categories: color, creativity, food, holiday, inspiration

Looking for a new fun way to decorate your Easter Eggs?…
well, new to ME anyway. This technique has been around for ages!

As a potter, we’ve all worked with wax resist before. But never like this.
I watched this first video and didn’t quite know what the end result was going to be. And when she revealed her finished egg, I was hooked. So simple in concept, but I’m sure it takes YEARS to master!!! Click here for the first Pysanky Egg video by Nicole Bell.

And for those needing a quick fix… here’s a visual overview from the video…
From my understanding, you draw on the lines with beeswax.

Then you dip it into the egg coloring.

Then trace over SOME of the original lines, filling in some areas, but not all.

And then it goes back into the color another time.

Then you carefully melt & wipe off the wax resist.

To reveal your beautiful egg.
Pretty groovy, huh?! I definitely have to try this one next year!

Want to see more?… click here for a more in-depth video of the history,
meaning and techniques used to create these incredible Pysanky Colored Eggs.

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Categories: architecture, Chicago, flowers

Let’s just quietly file these under the category of “Tax Procrastination”
and call it a day… and a BEAUTIFUL one at that!!!
… and now back to my taxes after a nice afternoon run.

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Categories: flowers, garden, pottery, soda-fired, stamped

At least the shamrocks in my kitchen window are enjoying the sun today… while I’m “trapped inside” without my bike AND doing my taxes today. A double whammy!!! Maybe being without my bike will be a “good thing” when it comes to getting my taxes done???… hmmm?… but I do still have running shoes!

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Categories: bike, food

It’s never a good thing when you take your bike into the shop for a spring tune-up, and they give it back to you in two pieces!!! Not good… but the chocolate frozen custard that followed shortly helped a bit.

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Categories: bowls, lillstreet

From Dave, the director of the ceramics department at Lillstreet…

Empty Bowls Update:
Thanks to your contributions, this year’s Empty Bowls event was yet again a success.  The event raised $8648, which equals roughly 2,882 Wednesday Night Welcome Meals at Epiphany UCC.  In spite of the fact that more than 300 bowls were sold at this event, there is a significant number of bowls remaining.   Because of this, our friends at First Slice will take the unsold bowls to use for additional Empty Bowls fundraisers at their other locations.  With these additional events, we will likely see the total money raised increase in the near future.

And here are just a few of the happy folks who went home with one of my donated empty bowls…

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Categories: creativity

Feeling a little “crunchy” this morning on a gloomy & rainy Thursday?!
Well, this graffiti guy sure looks a bit under the weather!

And where was this guy?…
Well, I saw him a couple mornings ago during my morning sunrise bike ride.
On the side of a lighthouse of all places!!!

Categories: process, production, stamped

Working on a little something new in the studio tonight.
Sure, I could’ve tried making just one.. but that’s not nearly as much “fun”
as trying something new with twelve!