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

Another day of reclaiming my clay scraps & trimmings! They’ve been soaking & slaking down for awhile now, and finally to the right consistency to lay out on my oversized plaster bat. So for the next few days it will be drying out a bit… and then the real fun begins.

LOTS OF WEDGING to come!!!

Categories: organization, process, production, stamped

Spent some time in the studio finishing up a couple batches of new test tiles. I think I want to do two more batches with two more kinds of clay. Then I can bisque them and start the actual glaze tests. I’ve been wanting to clean out & update my studio glazes for awhile now. Guess after five months I’ve waited long enough…

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped

Today I did a bit of cleaning, detailing & accenting on my mugs with some colored flashing slips! With the “magic” of the soda kiln, this colored slip will change to a nice mustard yellow with some flashed modifications around the cup based on where the flames “kiss” the pot during firing.

Categories: mugs, pottery, process, production, stamped, studio

And another batch of mugs done! Well, kinda…
still waiting for some clean-up, detailing & accenting
with colored flashing slips for the soda kiln.

Categories: mugs, process, production

Two done… eighteen more to go!
I always love when my making more mugs lines up with MUGSHOT MONDAY!!!

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped

Score…. slip… attach… turning stamped cylinders into STAMPED MUGS!!! I’ve got twenty mugs to work my way through this morning. A labor of love as they are my favorite thing to make!!! Mugs, mugs & more mugs!!!

Categories: mugs, process, production

Enjoying the shadows thrown on my wedging table while I wait for these handles to stiffen up a bit before attaching. They’re still a bit too squishy to work with… gotta wait.

Categories: mugs, process, production

Pulled handles ready to go… and then looped them over onto themselves to help establish the curve right away. I let them stiffen up a bit like this before cutting & attaching them to make new mugs!

Categories: mugs, process, production

Carrot-shaped nuggets ready to start pulling handles. I know most people hate making handles… but I kinda love it. No worries here… if I could make mugs every day I would be one happy potter!

Categories: mugs, process, production

Kicking off MUGSHOT MONDAY by finishing off a new batch of mugs. The cylinders are stamped & trimmed. Now they just need handles. So here we go… cutting clay & starting with carrot-shaped nuggets.