After a lengthy “hiatus” from the studio while remodeling my bathroom…
the mug cylinders I had thrown before renovation began had “a little bit of a wait”
for handles & slip. Going in just to spray them now & again… trying to keep them
feasible… keeping them moist so I could finish them off. For about three weeks!!!

The bathroom project is finally finished… and tonight I finished the mugs!
Now they just need a couple days to dry… then into a bisque kiln…

Tonight’s demonstration in class was how to make bowls on purpose.
Not just a cylinder gone bad… and whoops, look at that, it’s a bowl?!
So my beginners were very excited… and very attentive.

So I made several bowls and demonstrated how to make them each different.
By turning “the same 2-pound” bowl into different shapes & styles.

We also introduced slip as a decorative tool. Nothing too elaborate.
Just a basic primer of what slip is, how to use it, and how it can quickly change a pot.
We painted a solid inside, then dragged a spiral, squiggled through it and chattered!!!
Voila’ – a decorative bowl. Easy. Simple. Any beginner can do it.

Back in the saddle… and back to some good-ol’-fashioned stamping fun!
The mugs I started the other day are now all stamped…
now they need to “dry” to a stiffer leather-hard so I can trim them and add the handles!

So Christmas is officially over, and my gifts have been given with proper surprise.
So now I can share my good news with the rest of you. I didn’t want to share too soon
and ruin the surprise for those who were getting a copy of the book for Christmas!!!
If you run into my friends Gerry & Rosene, don’t tell them… they haven’t gotten their gift yet.
Shhh… keep it quiet… but only from them!

So it’s official – the Chicago photography book published by CBS2 Chicago
has finally been published and distribution has begun. And I made the cut… twice!
Two of my photos were chosen to be published in the book.
I’m very excited!!!

For those who may not remember, sometime last Fall, CBS2 Chicago announced this special
project on their news broadcasts. My dad turned me on to it and I started submitting photos.
The deal was that they were accepting photographs that depicted life in the City.
Photographers from all over submitted images to the website – which were then put up to an
online popularity poll. The more votes your images received, the more likely your image was
to be published in the book. So I submitted several photos, many from my morning biking
sunrise series, and hoped for the best. It wasn’t until early December that we found out
if we had been chosen by the book’s editors for the publication. And I was excited to
make it into the book twice – against a LOT of stiff competition!!!

2,480 photographers

28,144 photos submitted

2,388,443 votes cast

So… after all of that, one of my images found a place on Page 68 in the “Scapes Of All Sorts”
section of the book. It was one of my favorite biking moments of the summer. A surreal
biking moment when the morning fog was literally “illuminated” by the rising sun.

“Misty Morning Glow”

My second image chosen was used on Page 24 in the title page montage (top row, fourth
from the left) for the “Arts, Culture & Food” section of the book. Again, it’s of of my favorites –
this time, it’s my favorite “hidden gem” inside the Chicago Cultural Center…
a beautiful Tiffany stained glass dome in the rotunda.

So that’s it… another great experience… and another great chance to be published!
I hope you all get a chance to find a copy of the book and enjoy the many beautiful images
that capture the essence of Chicago…  and have you heard?… two of them are mine!!!

So tonight I unloaded another bisque kiln – in preparation of my upcoming Home Show…
just trying to squeeze in one last firing before next weekend! I unloaded the last batch
of pots (while they were still a little warmer than they should have been) and waxed
the bottoms in preparation for some big glazing this weekend. The bottoms are waxed
to help keep the glaze from adhering to the bottom  – making it easier to clean off the bottoms
before loading them into the kiln. I’ll need to get them all glazed over the weekend
so they can be loaded into a cone 10 reduction kiln that I’m sharing with my
studio pals Karen Patinkin & Marian Castro-Palanyk.

Another day. Another kiln. Another firing.
More flames shooting out of the peeps as I check the cones!
New work coming soon… my annual Home Show is just two weeks away!

Stampin’ round & round… quite literally!

Vote early. Vote often. Vote by this Saturday!!!

CBS2 Chicago is coordinating the publication if a coffee table book
featuring photography by local photographers. Thousands of photos
have been uploaded to the website – and now people are voting on
which ones should be include din the book.

And I would love to have mine chosen… this is where you come in.

Simply go to www.capturemychicago.com and register to vote. It’s free and all
they really ask for is your e-mail… presumably so they can notify you to purchase
the book when it’s done. If you don’t register, your vote doesn’t count.

So once your in… do a SEARCH for the following three picture titles.
Vote for each one to help stack the ballots in my favor. The following photos are
currently my top three vote-getters… so let’s push them over the top!!!

1.  Misty Morning Glow.

2.  Tree. Bike. Sunrise.

3.  Tiffany Stained Glass Dome

And then if you’re still having fun… and want to vote for more…
here’s the rest of my Top Ten.

4.  An Early Snow
5.  Sunrise Branches
6.  Spectacular Clouds
7.  Golden Maple Keys
8.  Chicago Sunrise
9.  Sunrise Ribbons
10. Morning Drama

After that… there’s still more than fifty of my other photos hoping for your vote!
You can also do a SEARCH for “Gary Jackson” to see the rest of my shots.
Plus thousands of other photographers shots you can vote for or against.
So have fun, place your votes… remember, the deadline is this Saturday 10/17.

My niece Taylor stopped by the studio today to play in the clay!
She brought her Mom & Dad (my sister) and her grandparents (my Mom & Dad)
to play with her. Since fall is quickly upon us, we decided to make autumn wreaths
out of terra cotta. We all started making clay leaves of different shapes & styles.

After we all had plenty of leaves, it was time to connect them all, layer them and
score & slip them all together to create our leaf wreaths. Layer after layer, leaf after leaf,
the wreaths came together. We then painted them with some underglazes to give
them some autumnal coloration. They’ll dry for the next couple days… then I’ll glaze them
and fire them! Sadly, we didn’t have quite enough time today. As always, the time flew by…
too many leaves, not enough time. So we did finish them… barely… but we would have
all liked another hour to finish them off & paint a few more details! Maybe next time?…

Back in the studio… replenishing he inventory… making more mugs!!!
After the pieces are thrown on the wheel, I allow them to dry partially so that they are
malleable, but not squishy. Once they are at the proper stiffness, I stamp the patterns
into the sides with my handmade stamps. After stamping, the bottoms of the pots
need to be finished to give them a more professional look.

I place the pieces back onto the wheel upside down and re-center them.
They are affixed to the wheel surface and then spun really fast. With a sharp trimming
tool, the clay is cut off the sides and bottom into thin ribbons of clay.

As the cylinder spins, and the ribbons of clay removed, you can finish off the bottom,
the sides and create a nice footring. The footring is the circle of clay that is left on
the bottom for your pot to stand on. This is your last chance to “finish off” the pot
before you let it begin to dry. Once dried… it’s off to the bisque kiln firing.