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

And now for the ever-popular… but never acknowledged “ugly” side of soda-firing. All of the parts that most people don’t ever realize happen behind-the-scenes… scraping kiln shelves, sweeping & mopping, stacking kiln furniture and my least favorite task… adding a new layer of kiln wash on all of the shelves I used in my firing. Luckily, I get to look at all the pretty pots after all of this drudge work!

Categories: kiln firing, process

Bricked up & closed for the night. It was a “quick sleep” and now I’m already back at the studio firing!!! Bricks in, peeps in & ignition started!!! An early start to a long day for firing… plus random studio “spring cleaning” projects throughout the day!

Categories: kiln firing, pottery, process, production, stamped

Lots of pots last night on my studio rolling cart… all glazed & wadded. Ready to start loading… looks like it might be a late night?! GIDDY-UP!

Categories: process, production

Like glazing wasn’t “fun” enough already… ugh… I also need to add little balls of wadding to the bottom of every pot being loaded into the soda kiln. Wadding is basically a soda-resistant clay that will help keep my pots from sticking to the kiln shelves after the soda-atmosphere adds a layer of glaze on everything!

Categories: glaze, mugs, process, production, stamped

A little early morning glazing! Flower pots now with a liner glaze & inlaid glaze in the stamps… both with my favorite tenmoku.

Next up for these?… wadding!!!

Categories: glaze, mugs, process, production

This batch of stamped mugs now has inlaid glaze in all the stamped impressions.

Next up?… tenmoku liner glazing! I like to work in an “assembly line” kind of process.
Finish one step, then move onto the next.

Categories: glaze, mugs, process, production

Glaze on… glaze off. Busy putting tenmoku glaze into the stamped impressions on my mugs. I like how the dark inlaid glaze really makes the stamped textures show up so much better!

Categories: color, kiln firing, mugs, pottery, process, production, stamped

Definitely feeling the Spring vibes here with some colored slip accents on my bisqued mugs. Getting ready start glazing these… inlaid glaze in the stamps & a tenmoku liner glaze. Then it’s off to the soda kiln this weekend where these colored slips will react & flash with the soda atmosphere during firing. The colors should become darker, richer & more saturated… if all goes as planned?!

Categories: kiln firing, pottery, process, production, stamped, vases

Plenty of bisque piling up waiting to be glazed & wadded. First-up… inlaying a tenmoku glaze into the stamped impressions for high tener contrast after the soda-firing. Here we go… giddy-up!

Categories: kiln firing, process, production