Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: mugs, soda-fired, stamped

Playing with textures & patterns again… with another batch of “hybrid mugs” fresh out of the soda kiln! I’ve really loved exploring the combination of wheelthrown & handbuilt parts & pieces… and how they come together into one seamless mug… or in this case, several mugs!!! Many of these hybrid mugs will be with me this weekend at the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR! Come on by to see them & fondle them in person!

Categories: mugs, soda-fired, stamped, textures

Always fun to see some of my new “hybrid mugs” thriving out in the wild… enjoying a picnic on the back porch somewhere out in the woods!!! “Hybrid” being a combination of wheelthrown & handbuilt parts… along with some amazing textures made with my MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers!

Categories: art fair, mugs, soda-fired, stamped

Fresh from the soda-kiln… a few more of the new mugs that came out of the kiln last weekend. Loving the colors, textures & random flashing effects. Just in time for the GLENVIEW SUMMER ART FAIR next weekend… and perfect for today’s MUGSHOT MONDAY!

Categories: handbuilding, mugs, summer camp, terra cotta

This week my Summer Campers have been throwing on the wheels… learning from scratch in three days!!! But today we switched to handbuilding. So we pulled out some terra cotta, some fun texture tools and they set-off to making their mugs. A lot of little hands doing a lot of scoring & slipping. Only a couple hours and they all created some great handmade mugs!!!

And yes… they pulled their own slabs!!!
No rolling pins. No slab roller. Just the good old fashioned way… and they crushed it.

Categories: flowers, mugs, pottery

Celebrating a little MUGSHOT MONDAY with this cute little “curated” shelf of mugs, cups & the perfect mini vase for one single zinnia bloom. Thanks for sharing Kristy!

Categories: glaze, mugs, process, production

Stamps inlaid with glazes & wiped clean… now to add a liner glaze of tenmoku to match!

Categories: glaze, mugs, process, production, stamped

Starting off today with a batch of mugs that need to be glazed & wadded. I’ve applied a layer of tenmoku glaze into all of the stamped impressions to help accentuate the textures & patterns. Now to wipe it off… leaving the glaze inlaid in the stamps!

Categories: mugs, process, production

After assembling, I dipped the exterior of my “hybrid mugs” in some thin flashing slip. After soda-firing, these colored slips will change colors & accentuate the stamped textures!

Categories: mugs, patterns, production, stamped, textures, tools

“Hybrid mugs” assembled, trimmed & handled… and the MKM Pottery Tools that did most of the hard work. Sure, I might have had a tiny-something to do with it too?! But having good tools always makes it more fun!!!

Categories: classes, mugs

Last night my Wheelthrowing Beginners trimmed & added handles to make their first mugs with me! Not bad for their second class of the new Summer session, huh?!