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

Looks like someone found the perfect napkin holder… employing one of my stamped & soda-fired oval vases with the perfect fit!

Categories: friends, mugs, pottery, stamped

And to quote a text from my friend Pammy…
“Your mug brightens my ho-hum day.”

Glad I could be there for her!!!

Categories: food, glaze, mugs, pottery, stamped

More snow means more shoveling… which also means more hot chocolate!!! Which is really just the “vehicle” to get more marshmallows into my mouth!!!

Luckily, I have more in the kitchen… as pottery classes at Lillstreet have been cancelled for tonight & tomorrow morning due to the snowstorm!!!

Categories: friends, pottery

Well, this cuteness is sure to boost my algorithms, right?!
This is little Benjamin… or Benno… adorable son of Molly & Jacob! You may remember previous posts about “Team Lavender” students in many of my pottery classes… like the last LILLSTREET THROWDOWN.

And… if you look REALLY CLOSE at the top left corner of the next picture… really close… you can see a couple of the ceramic baby blocks the THROWDOWN class made for them as a baby gift a year ago!

My how time flies & kids grow-up… even during a pandemic!!!

Categories: bowls, food, pottery

What a difference a few years of experience & a few thousand pots can make!!! I remember making the large bowl on the right “back in the day” at the old Lillstreet location… it was the largest thing I had ever made!!! I was so excited to decorate the rim with colored slips… before I “found” stamps! Sure, it might weigh three or four times more than it should… has a very heavy & clunky bottom… and has a bit of a beginner’s ledge on the interior curve… but who cares when it’s filled with popcorn?! The one on the left is newer, decoratively stamped and weighs what it should with a much better footring, a perfectly smooth interior curve… and holds popcorn too!!!

Thanks Gerry & Rosene for the trip down Memory Lane!

Categories: holiday, mugs, pottery

My big “MUGS FOR YOUR VALENTINE” Mug Sale just went live on my Fire When Ready Pottery Facebook page! Just click over to start shopping thorugh the forty mugs posted in the “official” Facebook Photo Album. Be the first to claim a mug with a “Mine” in the Comment section of the mug you want. I’ll follow-up with more purchasing & shipping details… easy -peezy!

Click here to go straight to the Facebook Photo Album!

Categories: creativity, pottery

Okay… so my brother-in-law “found” Bernie at my Holiday Home Show… at Lillstreet… on my wheel… and even on two of my morning bike rides!!! That Bernie sure gets around!!! Just had to share “a few” more!!!

Categories: classes, pottery, television

First with the good… THE GREAT POTTERY THROWDOWN is starting up again with season four this evening. Looks like Keith Brymer Jones is back for more crying, and the kiln loading guy has been promoted to Judge!!!

The bad news?… not sure how we’re going to get to see it here in the US yet. My cable doesn’t go all the way to the UK for Channel 4.

And more BAD NEWS…
I found out yesterday that my own GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class (also season four) has been cancelled for this Winter session due to lack of enrollment. I’m not surprised, as we’re still so “covid-limited” with very little open studio time… and this class has a “history” of big projects, lots of studio time and a “smidge” of homework. Or maybe they’re all just scared that the projects keep getting more creative & intense?!!! Either way, I’m sure we’ll re-visit this class at Lillstreet in the future when things clear up a bit and we have more access to Open Studio time!

Categories: glaze, platters, pottery

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

Categories: classes, lillstreet, pottery, wheelthrowing

Looking to find a little more zen & calm in your 2021???…
don’t forget a new session of pottery classes start next week at Lillstreet Art Center. My Beginning & Intermediate classes are already full, but there is still space in my Advanced Wheelthrowing class on Thursday mornings from 10:00am-1:00pm. Click on the link if you want to improve your skills, streamline your techniques, or just relax & get muddy with us starting next week!

Click here – Advanced Wheelthrowing classes!