Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, platters, porcelain, process, production, sgraffito, tools

So I gave some porcelain platters & bowls to Amy Taylor with a band of black underglaze around the rims. I also gave her a couple of my favorite DiamondCore Tools for her to play with. Looks like she’s been doing some amazing sgraffito work for our collaboration pieces for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview. We’re all trying to finish up our collaborations as we’re just a week and a half away… mark you calendars for September 9th & 10th!

Click here for more info – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

Categories: collaborations, platters, porcelain, process, production, rusty, sgraffito

A quick layer of black underglaze makes stark contrast with the white porcelain clay. Just making a few more pieces for Amy Taylor to play with… she’s doing some fun sgraffito sketches on the black areas specifically for ART IN THE GARDEN. It’s my next art fair in Glenview where many of the artists work together on special one-of-a-kind collaborations! This is just one… I have a few more collaborations “under wraps” to share soon… but first, time to go teach my Beginner’s class!!!

For more information, click here – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

Categories: process, production, sgraffito, tools

Fun little flakes scattered all over my latest sgraffito platter. My DiamondCore Tools make nice crisp carving lines… but this platter is already a little drier than I’m used to, so the flakes are everywhere!!!

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration, tools

After the class discussion & demo about sgraffito, my SURFACE DECORATION class set-off to decorate their own pieces. The goal was to get crisp clean lines & patterns carved through the dark layer of slip or underglaze to reveal the lighter clay body. They really enjoyed using my collection of DiamondCore Tools to get some crisp & clean carving lines. The perfect way to let their creative expressions reveal themselves!

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration, tools

For my SURFACE DECORATION class last week, we tackled some sgraffito… decorative carving through a contrasting color layer to reveal the lighter clay body color below! We talked about a few techniques & tricks… and then I started carving a couple of my platters as a demo… and soon enough they were ready to tackle their own pieces! Good thing I had my DiamondCore Carving Tools ready for some crisp clean lines… that also made some pretty cool “zebra” layered clippings!

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration

After the class discussion & demo about sgraffito, my SURFACE DECORATION class set-off to decorate their own pieces. The goal was to get crisp clean lines & patterns carved through the dark layer of slip or underglaze to reveal the lighter clay body. They really enjoyed using my collection of DiamondCore Carving Tools to get some crisp & clean carving lines. The perfect way to let their creative expressions reveal themselves!

Categories: food, platters, sgraffito, surface decoration

Looks like Julie has been busy in the kitchen again… baking up some beautiful cream puffs! It’s a shame that Keith ate too many of them… and only THREE made it to their blue sgraffito platter!!!

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

And you can’t really call it “a collection” with just ONE… so… this little sweetie came home too!!! Such amazing sgraffito line-work on such a small piece of porcelain pottery. Just for the record, this little pot is only 2.5-inches tall. Another AMAZING piece from Becky Lloyd from North Carolina… and already thinking about what might piece join these two next year?!

Categories: artists, pottery, sgraffito, surface decoration

Okay, so I “may” have done a little more damage while shopping at the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. I’ve followed Becky Lloyd on Instagram for awhile now… and have been amazed by her detailed sgraffito work. I saw her pieces for the first time last year during the tour… and have thought about them every since! Dare I say coveted? So this weekend I felt myself slipping… sensing the start of a new collection… and YES, I took this amazing piece home with me!!! The sgraffito carving is so tight & precise… and so tiny in spaces that it looks gray, not black & white… until you look really close and see that there are still individual carving lines there!!! BEAUTIFUL… and I’m so excited to own this stunner now!!!

Be sure to check her out on Instagram – @beckylloydyogamama

Categories: art fair, artists, sgraffito, soda-fired, surface decoration

Okay, I couldn’t decide… so I got TWO!

Two sides to two cups to add to my already overwhelming Matthew Metz collection! Especially loving Matt’s new spiral texture technique of carving textures “behind” all of the slip & sgraffito carving!

Cup #1 –

Cup #2 –