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

Categories: classes, friends, television

As part of Martin’s SURPRISE PARTY, I invited the other two Chicago contestants to join our party! So Sarah Chang & Nirali Chauhan both joined us for the festivities & to celebrate Martin’s big win!!! A fun surprise for Martin… and so “cute” to see how they’ve so quickly become BEST FRIENDS after surviving their time together “under the tent” for THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW! Crazy that the three of them are from Chicago… now best friends, but would never have met each other if it weren’t for the show!!!

Categories: classes, food, friends, television

Oh, the pressure… how do you throw a party and make snacks to celebrate a TOP BAKER?!

Sure, our treats might be tasty… but nowhere near the fancy delicacies that Martin could make! But we tried our best… lots of treats… some “inspired” by the final four contestants of the show!

Categories: friends, television

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our very own Martin Sorge… as well as the other two Top Bakers! Sarah & Dyana gave it their best… but couldn’t quite catch Martin in the end!!!

Categories: friends, television

And the WINNER of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW is “our very own” Chicagoan Martin Sorge!!! Such a wonderful opportunity for Martin… to show off his skills in the kitchen on reality TV!!! He did a wonderful job in each of the challenges… sometimes surprising the judges with CORN as a primary ingredient of his bakes!

CONGRATULATIONS MARTIN!
We’re all so proud of you! Now get back to pottery class…
and bring some award-winning treats!!!

Categories: friends, television

So it’s down to the THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW Final Three… and Sarah tells us she believes “someone from Chicago is winning today!”

Reminder… Sarah & Martin are BOTH from Chicago!!!

Categories: friends, television

So now we’re down to the big finale of THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW!!! And it’s down to the Final Three… each of them a great baker. Will it be Sarah, Martin or Dyana who takes the top baking honors?!!!

SPOILER ALERT… the big reveal is coming soon!

Categories: friends, television

Just a quick “refresher”… Martin was one of my wheelthrowing pottery students while THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW was streaming on TheRokuChannel.com! And while we all now know that Martin is a great baker… he also makes a LOT of amazing faces & quirky comments. Perfect for reality television… and so much fun to have in class! He definitely gave us good reason to celebrate & follow-along with the show. Celebrating each of the bakers as they were voted off with class snacks “inspired” by the losing baker! And when we last discussed the show… we were down to the Final Four.