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

All glazed & kiln loaded… with some soon-to-be colorful mugs on the bottom layer! Now to get home to start prepping & packing for this weekend’s HINSDALE FINE ARTS FESTIVAL. It should be a beautiful weekend in Burlington Park in downtown Hinsdale… c’mon by!

Categories: flower pots, production, soda-fired, stamped

Prepping, pricing & packing for tomorrow’s Schaumburg art fair set-up. Right now working on my latest batch of flowerpots… just waiting for a new home & a new plant!!!

Categories: mugs, process, production

And while I “should” be home prepping, pricing & packing for this weekend’s art fair… I thought it best to hedge my bets and start making another batch of mugs as replenishment for the next two art fairs!!! I can pack later tonight… or tomorrow, right?!

Categories: classes, process, production

Thrown on Tuesday night, and trimmed tonight… just minutes before my SURFACE DECORATION class. I can’t wait to see what my students do with these “blank” cylinders… as tonight’s technique is mishima!!! More photos to come…

Categories: classes, lidded jars, process, production, stamped

Last night in class, we finished off Part Two of last week’s lidded jars demo. Tackling the knobs on the lids… with two knobs created while trimming (closest to the jars) and the other two with cute little finials wheelthrown onto the lids from an attached nugget of clay. Always good to have options!

Categories: classes, flower pots, process, production, stamped

Spent a little time in the studio this afternoon “finishing up” some of my recent class demo pieces. This was a request from my Intermediate Class to make a large two-part stacked piece. Kelly requested a planter… but I kinda think this landed somewhere “between” planter & vase?! I stuck with planter… and added drainage holes and threw a water trip tray today to go with it.

Categories: flower pots, process, production, terra cotta

Did some late-night studio work this evening… adding some underglaze accents to this latest batch of terra cotta flower pots. Just gotta wipe off the surface… leaving the underglaze only in the stamps, and then a bit of clear liner glaze! Hoping to get these all done & ready for next weekend’s PLANTS & POTTERY POP-UP!!!

Categories: pottery, process, production, television

Nothing better on a damp & rainy day… than to play in the studio, getting ready to stamp some more flower pots… and binge watching the start of THE GREAT POTTERY THROW DOWN on HBOMax. Giddy-up!!!

Categories: bowls, process, production, stamped, textures

After Tuesday’s “bowls-on-purpose” class demo, I kinda felt they still needed a little somethin’-somethin’!!! So today I did a bit of stamping, detailing & trimming! Making these bowls even more “not-so-basic”!!!

Categories: classes, process, production, textures

Last week in one of my pottery classes, we tackled some surface decoration using thick white slip for textures & patterns. Sure, I could have used colored slip… but I’m more intrigued by how the glazes might play well with these cool textures & grooves!