Looks like it’s TOTEM TUESDAY! And it looks like Gerry & Rosene’s garden is doing great this summer… beautiful flowers all around their totem pole. Stamped & soda-fired pottery is always a nice addition to the garden!

Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play |
Looks like it’s TOTEM TUESDAY! And it looks like Gerry & Rosene’s garden is doing great this summer… beautiful flowers all around their totem pole. Stamped & soda-fired pottery is always a nice addition to the garden!

I realized it’s been awhile since I’ve shown off a loaded bisque kiln. So here’s the one I just loaded tonight… with more MUGS than I thought I had made?! I sort of love when you can get everything in… even if you need to turn things on their side to fit them “just-under” the lid!!!
Layer One –

Layer Two –

Layer Three –

Layer Four –

Layer Four just “under-the-lid”…
with some oval vases turned on their sides so they would fit in!

Looks like a “Sunday-Sundae-Funday” for Rosene!!!


A little stamping fun inside this bowl. I’m totally diggin’ the cool pattern it created as I stamped it one-by-one-by-one into these cool pointed chevron patterns!



Just adding a few accents of colored flashing slip to a quick batch of oval vases. They may look white now… but after a soda-firing, these slip accents should turn orange… my favorite color!!!


After playing outside all day, I just had to get into the studio tonight to get a bit of work done. So I’m tackling a new batch of mugs… shocker, I know… but this time I’m trying out a new clay body!!! Sure, I coulda done a test tile or something first. But that just not how I roll. I’m all in!!!

I typically use a lot of B-Clay… but the last time I bought clay from Continental Clay they suggested “B-Clay with Grog.” It threw beautifully, seems to be drying a bit faster… and I can’t wait to see how it reacts in the soda kiln!!!
Finished painting some accents of colored flashing slips on this latest batch of mugs. These color-painted areas will “flash” with colors & soda effects after firing in the soda kiln. But first… they need to dry & be bisque fired.


A sweet little stamped & soda-fired mini vase with a few sprigs of fresh eucalyptus… brightening Tiffany’s table! You can almost smell the eucalyptus from here!

A sweet little setting for one of my terra cotta flower pots… planted up & sharing a space with a fun birdhouse. Thanks Karis for sharing your garden space with us!

So the cylinders that were thrown yesterday were ready today to start stamping. They were under plastic overnight so now they are at a good stage that I like to call “wet-leatherhard.” Not quite stiff enough to trim yet, not quite wet enough to be squishy or sticky… but instead firm enough to hold its shape, and yet wet enough to press in good impressions with my handmade stamps.
Mug #1 –



Mug #2 –



Mug #3 –



Mug #4 –



Mug #5 –



Mug #6 –



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Mug #16 –



Mug #17 –



Mug #18 –



Mug #19 –



So for now they’re all back under plastic wraps… drying up a bit more until they are leatherhard and ready for trimming. And then… the ever-popular task of adding handles to all of them!!!
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Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Lillstreet Studios ∙ 4401 North Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ∙ 773-307-8664 gary@firewhenreadypottery.com |