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

Hard to believe we’re just two weeks away from my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW!!!… ‘cuz In my head, it should still be summer!? So mark your calendars now, make your holiday shopping lists & get ready to bring a friend! This is the biggest pottery show I do all year… with pottery in every room of my condo, all decked out for Christmas, food & drink in the kitchen and the ever-popular TIRED OF SHLEPPING SALE on the back porch!

Categories: kiln firing, pottery

After about three hours, I had the soda kiln fully packed with pots from top to bottom & front to back late Friday evening… err, guess it was really Saturday morning! Lots of “Tetris” stacking & packing to load everything in with proper spacing. Can’t wait to see these pots again… after the soda firing!

Categories: food, pottery, stamped

Today is NATIONAL FLUFFERNUTTER DAY!!!
A childhood favorite… and we can consider this as “carbo-loading,” right?!

Categories: flowers, food, friends, pottery

My friends Keith & Julie recently moved for central Illinois to Ohio… and it looks like they finally got around to unboxing some of their pottery collection! What better way to “feel at home” than with a freshly-baked pineapple upside-down cake, fresh-cut roses from the garden & the warmth of a candle… and some of my stamped pottery to pull it all together!

Categories: art fair, friends, pottery

We had such a great time at ART IN THE GARDEN a couple weeks ago… and it looks like some of my biggest “fans” did too!!! HA!!! Allison has quite a collection of my work… so fun to have such loyal friends & customers! She’s always so supportive of her artist friends.

And this weekend is a perfect chance for me to meet more “friends” at ART IN THE BARN!!! C’mon by!

Categories: food, pottery, stamped

Sure, I coulda gotten some fresh vegetables… but instead I picked up a nice chunk of bleu cheese at the Farmer’s Market on my way home today! Looks like a great “appetizer”… yum, my favorite!!!

Categories: pottery

A nice “tour” through Suzi’s kitchen… showing off a nice stamped & glazed utensil crock with fine collection of wooden spoons! Her spoons, my vase… a perfect working collaboration!

Categories: pottery, process, production

Trapped air inside a piece WILL explode if there’s not an escape hole!

When I was assembling my ART IN THE GARDEN collaboration wall vases, I apparently neglected to add escape holes on the bottom half of this vase. And voila’… shattered during the firing – blew right off! Just proving the theory… as it happens to all of us at some point! Good thing I made a couple extras…

Categories: glaze, platters, pottery, stamped, textures

For all you “Purple Lovers” out there… there’s only ONE of these large stamped platters in purple for ART IN THE GARDEN this weekend. No pre-sales, no calling dibs… we’re just going old-school with first-come, first-served. You might want to come early tomorrow if you really love purple?!!!

Categories: kiln firing, pottery, soda-fired

Two-thirds of the way through unloading… you get a second “reveal” when you take out the front two layers of shelves… and it reveals the third stack in the back. Again, excited that pots look well coated with soda, with some nice bright colors… and still no blasted grayness!!! Lots of fun new pots to share at my next couple art fairs!