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

Christmas is coming… and hopefully today was my last trip to the “pottery” Post Office. Final pottery shipments are on their way for the holidays. Thanks to everyone who purchased online… or contacted me directly for some special orders & “secret” shopping! Hopefully your pottery will arrive in time & in one piece… to bringing joy to everyone on the other end!!!

Categories: art fair, process

Quick thanks to everyone who made my ONLINE CHRISTMAS TREE SALE such a huge success last night! I posted twenty-five ceramic Christmas trees… and they were practically all claimed in about an hour!!! So now I have some packing & shipping to do to get all twenty-five sent out into the world to spread some festive cheer!

And another quick thanks to my pal Amy for giving me two huge bags of bubble wrap for me to recycle & reuse again! I love when free packing materials show up right when I need them… instead of ending up in a dumpster somewhere! Thanks everyone for keeping this season bright!

❤️
Categories: glaze, holiday, kiln firing, process, production

Glazed, loaded & ready to go! Just need to shut the lid, cross my fingers & turn the kiln on! A big batch of glazed Christmas Trees coming soon for this weekend’s Second Holiday Home Show!!!

Categories: glaze, holiday, process, production

Glazing is going well… just a few more trees to glaze before loading the kiln tonight! If everything goes well, these will all be out of the kiln & ready for this weekend’s MUD & METAL SHOW… My Second Holiday Home Show!

Categories: holiday, process, production

Just a few ceramic Christmas trees to get some glaze on! Getting ready for a full “Christmas Tree Farm” this weekend at my Second Holiday Home Show! But first I need to get these glazed and back into another kiln so they are fired & done for Saturday & Sunday at my place!

Categories: glaze, process, production

With my second Holiday Home Show coming quickly this weekend… I’m pretty sure I can squeeze in one more glaze kiln before then! Got some bottoms to wax… and then some glazing to do!!! Quick…

Categories: kiln firing, process, production, soda-fired

It’s a rainy & windy day… perfect for sharing some more photos from my recent soda firing! Lots of pots ready for my HOLIDAY HOME SHOW in two weeks! So now I just need to prep & price them all… as well as setting up all the shelves & decorating my place! The pottery party is in just two weeks!!!

Categories: platters, process, production, stamped, stamps

Another night in the studio… and some more stamping done! I had a class demo platter under wraps in my studio that I kinda forgot about. So I was relieved that it was still wet enough to do some stamping on it tonight. One-by-one… by one… by one…

Categories: clay, process, studio

Spending a little time this evening crushing up some of my dried reclaim scraps… trying to make them as small as possible so that they slake down faster in my reclaim bin. Sure, it takes a little effort.. but reclaimed clay is the best! Because it’s FREE!!!

Categories: glaze, kiln firing, process, production

A great combination… an empty soda kiln & my studio cart FULL of glazed & wadded pots. Late Friday night I loaded the kiln with a LOT of pots to be soda-fired on Saturday. My rolling cart has to travel from my second floor studio down to the first floor kiln room… on a very rickety freight elevator. So I always add some “seat belt” straps of masking tape to help keep pots in their place on the trip down!