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

So excited to get some good glaze results back! I’ve been working on making a few more Cone 6 glazes for my studio. I’m still working on “refining” the recipes a bit… but I wanted to see what they might do when fired to a higher temperature. I’ve always thought it would be great to have a collection of glazes hat work well in Cone 6 oxidation, but ALSO work equally well at the higher Cone 10 reduction temperature!

I’m pretty excited by the look of these… most of them are showing some definite promise.

On each of the test tiles, they have a single dip of glaze over all… followed by a second dip of glaze only in the upper right corner on an angle. Thus the drippy run on the right side on some of them.

Here’s what my new LIME glaze looks like in Cone 6 oxidation firing… followed by the same glaze in a Cone 10 reduction firing on different clay bodies.

Here’s what my MALACHITE GREEN glaze looks like in Cone 6 oxidation firing… followed by the same glaze in a Cone 10 reduction firing on different clay bodies.

Here’s what my CELADON GREEN glaze looks like in Cone 6 oxidation firing… followed by the same glaze in a Cone 10 reduction firing on different clay bodies.

Categories: classes, glaze, platters, stamped

Kudos to my former student Kimberly for making it to the “Show-Off Shelves” at Lillstreet! A couple people have asked me if it was MY platter… to which I proudly said “No”, but she was one of my students! Congrats again Kimberly… your platter turned out GREAT!!!

Categories: bowls, glaze, nature, stamped

Sure, I probably could have thrown these gourds away off my back porch months ago! But I just couldn’t because they look so cool… and I was hoping to plant the seeds this spring. Didn’t plan on them getting covered with snow though!!!

Categories: glaze, mugs, stamped

Still playing with some new mug shapes for the New Year. Looked up and saw this sweet little one sitting on a shelf in my studio. Must have slipped by from one of my last holiday kilns?! I think I’ll have to re-visit this shape… I’m kinda diggin’ it!!!

Categories: glaze, platters, pottery

And I mean… who doesn’t LOVE a great spiral???

Categories: glaze, platters, stamped

Showing off the last of my “surprise” Christmas gifts. All have been delivered, all surprises done! Apparently it was a year for making PLATES!!! These stamped plates turned put pretty sweet, and FLAT! I think I re-learned a valuable lesson. Plates don’t always stay flat in the soda kiln. Much easier to glaze them and fire them on flat kiln shelves.

Categories: creativity, glaze, inspiration

When Matthew got to the bottom of his cup…
it was an “out of this world” experience!

He saw a resemblance to the planet Neptune
in the bottom of his cup where the glaze pooled together!

Too funny – thanks for sharing Matthew!!!

Categories: bowls, food, glaze, stamped

Doing a little cooking today and it seems I’m getting a little low on my garlic?! Only a few cloves to go before this stamped bowl is empty. Looks like I might be doing some grocery shopping tomorrow, as my breath might be a little stinky tonight… but in the best way possible!

Categories: classes, glaze, mugs, process, production

It’s another MUGSHOT MONDAY… and to celebrate tonight my “Mugshot Mondays” students finished their 3-week class by glazing all of their mugs. And we all know that a good glazing session begins with a good waxing session! I’m not really a “fan” of glazing… ugh… but oddly, I do LOVE WAXING the bottoms?!!!

Categories: classes, glaze, pottery

Fresh from the kiln. A class demo bottle with a class demo glaze! One of my students had used this glaze combo on a few of his pieces, and Ted was more than willing to share the info. So I figured I would give it a try too!!!

The look is pretty sweet, but if I must say, the “texture” of the blended top section is a little “rougher & scratchier” than I would normally like.

Hey Lillstreeters (besides Ted)… Any guesses what this combo is?!