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

And while we were having a “bowl party” in class last week… it was oddly appropriate that Chris brought “party-size” OREOs to class! Possibly the biggest package of OREOs we’ve ever seen in class!!! … burp.

Categories: bowls, classes, wheelthrowing

Once again, my favorite class demo every session for my Beginners & Advance Beginning Wheelthrowers. We start by talking about how to make a “bowl on purpose instead of a cylinder gone bad.” No flat bottoms. No corner edges. No accidental flare-outs. No indented beginner’s ledge. Just nice and smooth ALL the way through the interior of every bowl, every time!

So I made one sample bowl and explained it all as I was throwing the bowl. Once they had all asked their questions, they went back to their wheel to give it a try. Meanwhile, I kept throwing a bunch of bowls. The goal is to have plenty of bowls to “play with” during the second portion of the class…. altering, fidgeting, decorating, making it “theirs” and not just some random round bowl that the wheel kinda made for them!

After awhile, we re-grouped for Part Two of the demo… and we let the fun of playing begin!

Bowl #1 – The original plain bowl… yep, they ALL started kinda like this one.

Bowl #2 – Four Fluted Edges… just a quick pinch & twist with two fingers in four places.

Bowl #3 – And if four fluted edges looks cute… maybe Eight Fluted Edges would look even better?!

Bowl #4 – A flared-out flange…just a smidge over a inch wide. Just bent out over a steady finger on the outside of the bowl at the grooved area.

Bowl #5 – And if a thin flange is nice, maybe a much wider flange would be cooler… kinda like those restaurants when you get this hug impressive bowls with a small scoop of ice cream in the bottom for $50!!!

Bowl #6 – The we combined the techniques… a thin flared flange, with four fluted twists.

Bowl #7 – A simple “denting in” with the side of my wood knife… showing that a round bowl does NOT need to stay round!

Bowl #8 – The we started splitting the rim… using the pointed end of my wooden knife. After splitting the rim, I pinched it back together in eight places.

Bowl #9 – Another split rim, but this time with eight fluted edges to give the rim little undulating waves pattern.

Bowl #10 – Split rim but then dented in at four places with the side of my wooden knife, and then dented out in four other places… kinda creating a little bit of a squares “lotus” feeling!

Bowl #11 – Another split rim pinched together, but then “bulged” outwards bit between the pinched areas.

After altering the rims of the first half, we moved on to using colored decorative slip as a surface decoration technique. I tried to encourage them to “play” more with their clay… and to decorate their pieces more… colored slip being just one simply technique.

Bowl #12 – I covered the interior with a solid layer of white slip. And then dragged the rounded end of my wooden knife through the slip to reveal this spiral as the wheel was spinning.

Bowl #13 – Another full layer of white slip.. . and then we did a bit of “finger painting” with a simple squiggle of my index finger through the slip as the bowl was rotating.

Bowl #14 – While adding the layer of white slip… I started just “plopping” the slip on with a wide paintbrush. And we were all kinda enamored with the random texture that it was creating. So we left it! Might be a tad too subtle for my liking… but…

Bowl #15 – After adding another layer of thick white slip, I did a bit of chattering… rhythmic tapping…. with a rounded plastic rib. Tapping the edge of the rib through the clay to reveal the darker clay body. The speeds with which you tap & spin the wheel both affect the pattern that shows up.

Bowl #16 – Thick white slip with the rounded edge of a plastic rib dragged through it upwards to create these lines. A little “clean-up” in the center… and it was all good.

Bowl #17 – After using a lot of white slip, we then talked about mixing & blending… so we did a simple ombre’ blend of black & white slips. We left it smooth & plain… however… I kinda feel like I might do some decorative carving through the slip after it dries to leatherhard.

Bowl #18 – For MY last demo bowl, we did another ombre’ blend… and then dragged a tool through it to create a spiral… cuz’ everyone LOVES a good spiral!!!

And then the tides turned…

I had one last bowl to decorate, and a classroom full of eager students. So I flipped the game… and told one of them that that THEY had to decorate the final bowl!!!

Bowl #19 – I gave my last bowl to Priya to decorate… and she kinda panicked at first with too many options & too many people watching!!! But then she did a simple layer of black slip over the interior… and made a very fine & tight spiral drag through it. We all LOVED it… well done Priya. And now she gets to keep & finish that bowl too!!!

So there they are, all of my class demo bowls!!!
Remember, they all started out very much the same… simple & round. But after “playing” with some fun surface decoration techniques… they all look different now! And for now they are all in my studio… and there’s a “very food chance” that there “might” be a bit more stamping & detailing on these before I call them done. MORE IS MORE!!!

Categories: classes, mugs

Pretty proud of my Beginners from class last night… when they tackled trimming & handles for their first mugs of the session! It’s only Week Two & they already have new mugs!!!

Categories: classes, food, platters, stamped

Pretty plates for a tasty potluck… Monday night we celebrated our last class of the session with a yummy potluck. I brought the chocolate mousse cake, while Kristen made chocolate chip cookies! Food always tastes better on handmade pottery!!!

Categories: classes, food

Can’t say that I’m all that into Super Mario Bros. …
but I am really into OREO’S!!!

So… more sweet treats to share with my wheelthrowing class tonight!

Categories: classes, friends, wheelthrowing

After the party, as we all got back to pottery class & projects, I invited Nirali & Sarah to stay and try their hand at the wheel. Sure, they can bake up a storm, but can they throw a pot?!!!

Turns out they can… even with a silly party hat on!!!

Categories: classes, friends, lillstreet, television

All in all… a wonderful finish to our Spring session of pottery classes! With a huge celebration of Martin’s BIG WIN on The Great American Baking Show. I had a great group of students who not only make great pottery, but were also more than willing to play along with my silly “reality TV” games! Congratulations again to Martin… our very favorite Top Baker!!!

And a quick peek at the “behind-the-scenes” of the photo shoot…
with Christine art directing the shoot!!!

Categories: classes, friends, pottery, television

Knowing that the winner of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW would win a glass cake plate “trophy”… I thought I would make a ceramic “trophy” cake plate for Martin just in case he didn’t win! BUT HE DID WIN!!! I thought tit would still be a great gift… so now he has TWO “trophies” to choose from next time he’s serving a homemade cake!!!… or bringing one to our pottery class???

Categories: classes, friends, television

And of course, every KING OF CORN needs a corn scepter, right?! Martin may have won a baking show… but we were more than ready to blow the corn theme out of the water! We just need a good reason to celebrate… and we’re ALL IN!

Thanks again to Christine for working on the scepter. I brought the corn & made it sparkle, but Christine added all of the incredible details… like photos from each of Martin’s baking challenges!

Categories: classes, friends, television

As the Big Winner of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW… of course we had to make the most celebrating Martin! And we thought every winner needs a crown… and party hats for the rest of us. Of course, it was CORN for all around!!!

Special thanks to Christine for coordinating the “bumper crop” of corn hats & crown!!!
Take notice of the ring of contestants around the hat!!!