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

Prepping in the kitchen for our Christmas meal… thinking these will go into a nice salad?! And then maybe back into the same serving bowl when it’s ready to go?! I mean, we all know that homemade food tastes even better in handmade pottery!

Categories: holiday

Remembering the childhood Christmas Eve nights driving home from my grandparents house in our pajamas… watching out the car windows to see if we could see Rudolph’s red nose & listening to the radio as they broadcast the “Santa Tracking” updates. Enjoy the night, cherish the memories.

Categories: holiday, platters, pottery

Holiday preparations are in the works.
I know what I’m making for tomorrow’s Christmas feast… I’m on “two side dishes.”

The real question is what will they be served in???

Categories: ornaments

Just a couple more holiday star ornaments making their Christmas Debut… one glazed & one soda-fired! Thanks Julie & Lisa for sharing pics from your beautiful Christmas trees!

Categories: ornaments

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”…
and it appears as though one of my holiday stars has made it to its new home… err, tree!!!
Thanks for the festive photo Anna!

Categories: movie

What’s better than seeing WICKED for the first time?… seeing it a second time in 3D today!!!

And then soon enough… WICKED the sing-along version coming soon to a theater near you!!! Who else is ready to “defy gravity” with me?… singing & “dancing through life” together!!!

Categories: clay, process

Step-by-step… processing my reclaimed clay this afternoon! It has set out in a plaster bat for awhile and is finally a good “clay” consistency. I like to layer it with some fresh new B-clay. Thin layers of each, sliced in half, stacked, squished, repeat. It incorporates both clays quickly with just a bit of wedging at the end. When it comes to using this reclaimed clay, it will all get a full wedging then!

Categories: holiday

As we slide right into the Christmas holiday…. as well as Hanukkah & Kwanzaa…
let us not forget today’s celebration… FESTIVUS!!!

Made popular on that wonderful TV show about “nothing”… a celebration made famous by Frank Costanza! One of the most important traditions of Festivus is the “Airing of Grievances,” where families & friends have an opportunity to tell each other how they were disappointed by that person in the past year. A Festivus dinner is shared before the “Feats of Strength” competition takes place, where the head of the household must be pinned in a wrestling match beneath the unadorned aluminum Festivus pole.

A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US!!!
Today’s your day… go out & have fun with this!!!

Categories: artists, ornaments

My Christmas Tree is covered with handmade ornaments… and I’m always looking to add more! So I was excited to snag one of these limited-edition tiny dinosaur ornaments from Brett Kern’s online sale. He’s known for making larger dinosaur statues that look inflated. I haven’t started THAT collection yet… but I can see THIS collection starting already! Check out his “inflated” masterpieces – @brettkernart

Categories: bowls, food

Looks like Kristy is enjoying a little Sundae Sunday in a cute little purple bowl. Cute, yes…but my question is “why so small?” That just looks like a “starter-sundae” to me… MORE IS MORE!