Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: artists, pottery, sgraffito, surface decoration

So I “may” have done a bit of shopping up at the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour… like this great sgraffito jar made by Matthew Metz. Just one more for my already overflowing collection of his work!!!

You can follow Matthew’s work on Instagram… @metzpottery

Categories: artists, craftsmanship, pottery, sgraffito, surface decoration

So many pots, so many techniques, so many talented potters! Over the course of the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour, we saw so many amazing pieces of pottery. But I will say that my favorite pieces were the exquisite pots by Becky Lloyd. I have followed her for years on Instagram, and her work was even more AMAZING in person!!! Such intricate details & sgraffito carvings. The shapes. The forms. The patterns. The CRAFTSMANSHIP!!! Be sure to follow her on Instagram – @beckylloydyogamama

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration

Last week during my Tuesday night pottery class, my teaching assistant Susan did a little sgrafftio demo for the class. We made “bowls on purpose” the week before and introduced colored slips as a decorating option. This was one of those bowls… continuing the week a week later! So Susan explained what sgraffito is… basically decorative carving through a colored slip to “reveal” a design using the base clay color as a contrast. She showed our students how to do it, and then continued during class to make this beautiful “rose” pattern around the interior rim of the bowl.

To see more of Susan’s sgraffito work, follow her on Instagram! – @susanslogoff

Categories: food, friends, platters, sgraffito

Another culinary treat from my friend Julie. This time some sort of chocolate torte with a raspberry glaze. Looks pretty yummy on a blue sgraffito platter! Thanks for sharing your masterpiece Julie… now if she could just share a slice of that torte too?!!!

Categories: food, platters, sgraffito, surface decoration

I mean, who doesn’t like a quick snack of spinach dip & crackers???… but it looks so much more impressive when served on a green sgraffito plate! So fancy for a quick appetizer Julie… thanks for upgrading your dip!!!

Categories: classes, sgraffito

Always fun to see my students so pleased with their work. Like Helen & Susaan showing off some of their sgraffito pieces carved during our SURFACE DECORATION class last session!

Categories: friends, My Talented Friends, porcelain, sgraffito

And just in case you were wondering… here are a few finished pieces by My Talented Friend Susan Slogoff. She helped with our sgraffito class last night and brought these examples to share with my students. Crazy cool, right?!

Be sure to follow Susan on Instagram @susanslogoff

Categories: classes, porcelain, sgraffito

Here are some of the sgraffito projects that my students created… along with Susan’s demo pieces from last night’s SURFACE DECORATION class. They had a great time playing with their little porcelain plates, as well as our “guest artist” Susan Slogoff. Such a fun night at Lillstreet!

Categories: classes, lillstreet, porcelain, sgraffito

As part of last night’s “Sgraffito Surprise” demo in my SURFACE DECORATIONS class… I brought in my pal Susan Slogoff to show off some of her superior sgraffito skills. She’s one of our best sgraffito artists at Lillstreet and I knew that she would be a welcome “surprise” guest artist for my class! Susan shared info & did some demos before we unleashed my students to do their own sgraffito on some small porcelain plates I had pre-prepped for them!

Susan has been my teaching assistant for years, but with reduced class sizes at Lillstreet, we’ve also lost our assistants. It was so great to have her back in class with me… and looking forward to getting back to larger classes & having Susan back teaching with me!

Categories: classes, porcelain, pottery, process, sgraffito, tools

Tonight in my SURFACE DECORATION pottery class, we’re tackling a little sgraffito!!! I’ve got a couple surprises ready for them… and sharing my collection of DiamondCore Carving Tools for them to play with!!!