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

Pretty little flowers in pretty little vases. Looks like Kristy has pulled in one last batch of her garden flowers before the predicted “freeze” this weekend. With a very chilly forecast up in Wisconsin, she doesn’t expect much to survive… so this might be her last display of homegrown flowers for the year?!

Categories: flowers

So exciting to see more of my dahlias blooming today… especially the “fuzzy” pink one as it was the first flower on that plant!!! I just hope the closed blooms have a chance to open before the temperature drops too much this weekend??? And if you scroll down to the last photo, you’ll see how large my dahlias have gotten this year!

Categories: art fair, collaborations, handbuilding, terra cotta

With summer over… so are the Summer Art Fairs! But always fun to look back to a fun art fair highlight! I loved the collaboration birdhouses I made with my pal Cory McCrory for ART IN THE GARDEN… and the excited shoppers who scored one of the ten colorful birdhouses! Such a fun collaboration project… and so fun seeing everyone with their whimsical new birdhouses!

Can’t wait to do another collaboration with Cory for next year…
for the 10th Anniversary of ART IN THE GARDEN!!!

And an extra special birdhouse… where she “just had to have” this birdhouse with the two bluebirds on top. And then she explained that she is a TWIN… and loved the two birds on top!!!

Categories: holiday, process, production

Just spent some “quality time” tonight in the studio doing some detailing of my latest batch of ceramic Christimas Trees! More textures, more patterns, more holes… MORE IS MORE!!! And this time, some even got textured stars at the top!!!

Categories: holiday, terra cotta

Looks like my friends Keith & Julie are celebrating NATIONAL PUMPKIN DAY today! A cute little shelf with four of my pumpkins grinning back at them! Plenty of pumpkins & country charm to get them through the day!

Categories: flowers, vases

It’s the end of summer… and it looks like Allison is enjoying the last few flowers of the season! Luckily, she has a sweet little stamped & soda-fired vase to put them in… and it looks like her cat approves too!!!

Categories: flowers, soda-fired, stamped, vases

A single dahlia propped on an ikebana flower vase. A great way for Rikke to show off some stray blooms she got from the farmer’s market… gifted to her after they had broken off from the stems!

Categories: classes, food

Last night in my pottery class we had some sweet treats again! One of my students made these AMAZING cupcakes as a “test run” for a Halloween Party next week. She was being so hard on herself as she hated how the chocolate ganache & white piping didn’t drag together with a toothpick to form cute spiderweb designs as planned. However… they were full of ooey-gooey chocolatey yumminess! And it didn’t hurt any that there was a hidden marshmallow frosting center inside!!! She hated them so much that she asked me not to mention her name in connection with said cupcakes?! Okay… but her name starts with a P… and rhymes with Riya! HA!!!

Categories: holiday, process, production

The forest is growing!!! Last night before class, I threw a few more Christmas trees… as there are only 61 days until Christmas!!! These now need to be trimmed, decorated, dried, fired, glazed & fired again before they’re ready to go!!! But only 24 days until my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW… I can’t believe the holidays are coming so quickly!!!

Categories: seasons

Beautifully colored Fall ivy leaves with a bit of sunshine streaming through.