Another one of my super-secret Christmas projects was a commissioned piece for college football coach P.J. Fleck. My brother-in-law Scott is a long-time fan of P.J. Fleck, as well as my pottery, and thought the perfect one-of-a-kind gift for P.J. would be a custom platter with his personal mantra on it.

ROW THE BOAT.

So I set off on making a large stamped platter. I threw the platter and left the center section smooth… which kinda killed me! You know how much I LOVE a good spiral!!! But with plans to put the logo in the center, I knew I would need a smooth “canvas” to work with.

My brother-in-law Scott is also a commercial printer with access to a vinyl cutter. So he offered to cut a few vinyl stencils for me to work with. Now keep in mind… this is the very first time I’m even trying this technique! I’ve seen others do it… so it’s gotta work, right?!

I started by peeling off the backing and then pressing it smoothly into the center of the platter. I wanted to make sure the edges were attached everywhere… but I was kind of afraid of pressing too hard! I didn’t want to make it hard to peel off later… or even worse, leave any kind of adhesive residue on the platter that might affect the glazing later..

After peeling off the top layer, I filled it all in with some thick underglaze. Kinda piling it on top with a pretty thick layer of color.

When the underglaze was mostly dry… but not totally, I peeled off the vinyl stencil. I was afraid that if it got too dry, it might flake off more while peeling it off. I knew that I wanted to keep it as clean as possible… as I didn’t want to do any clean-up & touch-ups later.

The toughest part was peeling away all of the smaller parts & pieces…
I kept finding more areas that were oddly “glossy” and knew that there was still some vinyl under the underglaze that wasn’t drying!

A little touch-up here & there… but not much at all.

Knowing that I didn’t want to blur the image, I thought my best option would be to spray the glaze over the applied logo design. So I started slowly around the edge. And then gradually sprayed more & more to build up the glaze slowly over time. I don’t do a lot of spraying glazes, so I’m always kind of questioning when I’ve got enough glaze material on the piece. You don’t want too little… but then again too much is bad too!

And then it went into the kiln… with all of my fingers crossed.
Remember, this was my first time doing the vinyl stencil technique… first time using this new brand of underglaze… and unsure of how my glaze I “sprayed” onto the piece… and if the logo would blur out & “melt” during the firing?!!! A lot at risk here…

But… two days later… I opened the kiln to find this!!!
WHOO-HOO!!!

But the real photo that counts is the one where University of Minnesota Head Football Coach P.J. Fleck is showing off his new platter!

ROW THE BOAT.
That smile says it all.

And now… finally...
Christmas “secrets projects” can be revealed!!!

So I got a request for a “special order” to make a set of four soda-fired dinner plates. They were to be for some very good friends of mine… actually, my VERY FIRST art fair friends ever!!! They wanted four dinner plates that were very “neutral” so that any of their other more colorful pottery pieces would still work along with them. When I took the order, I made sure to mention that I don’t make a lot of soda-fired plates as there’s a larger propensity for them to warp during the firing. I also explained the inherent randomness of soda-firing… which they are fully aware of as they have quite a collection of my work!

So I made their dinner plates… taking extra caution to compress them really well, make sure they’re not over-worked, and very careful not to pick them up in a way that might warp them. They had asked for four “matching” plates that each had a different stamp pattern. They looked great after the bisque firing, so I glazed them for my latest soda-firing. I even made sure to us a LOT of wadding under the plate… probably double what one would normally use!

Here they are glazed… with a tenmoku inlay into the stamped impressions. A thin spray of tenmoku in the center area which should turn an “neutral” amber color… and a very light spray of a green glaze for a bit of a subtle random accent.

And then it was time to soda-fire them. So I placed them towards the back of the kiln. Making sure that they were placed on NEW flat kiln shelves! I was confident that these plates were going to work out… as they’re a commission order for very special friends!!!

When I unloaded the kiln, I was very excited about the “neutral-ness” of the plates! They’re going to LOVE them… as Rosene’s favorite color is BEIGE!!! Which I keep advising her that BEIGE is indeed NOT a color!!!

And here they are… the four “matching” dinner plates each with a different stamp pattern! With very subtle accents… and yet very “neutral.”

Again, the GOAL was a set of dinner plates… very neutral…
each with a different stamped texture!

After they came out of the kiln, as I was stacking & packing up the pieces… only then did I notice that TWO of plates were perfectly flat… while the other two were not!!! Two of the plates were warped terribly!!!

Ugh…. WARPED!!!

As these were a SET OF FOUR… two warped and two flat were not going to work for me!! I was going to need to make some replacements VERY QUICKLY… so they would be ready for Christmas!!!

Doing a little holiday baking today… just finished a batch of double-chocolate brownies to share at all of my festive holiday get-togethers!

Oh wait… there are none as we’re abiding by “the rules” and staying safe & socially-distanced. Guess I need to eat all of these by myself?… oh shucks!!!

I’ve been working on these pieces for awhile.
And it finally feels GREAT to call them done!

I received a request from a local Chicago customer for a special order last Summer during the shutdown. He owns & runs THE ECCENTRIC CAFE in Kalamazoo, Michigan… a part of Bell’s Brewery. Apparently, the bar has a lot of “visual intrigue”… wonderful collections & things to look at all over the place. In fact, it’s one of the only brewery pubs with NO TELEVISIONS!!!

So the request was that I would make a large “tankard” or stein for his newest collection. I LOVE making mugs… so I was definitely intrigued to tackle them on a much larger scale! He said he was “collecting them” from a few of his favorite potters around the country. So I was HONORED to be chosen to be part of his collection of favorites!!!

The request was that I can make any style, shape or form tankard “in my style”… and they had to hold more than 64-ounces! Knowing that I was going to be soda-firing them, I decided to make a couple extra just in case something goes wrong during the firing… a drip from the ceiling, a splotch of errant soda, or any other random issue that comes up while soda-firing. So here are the three finished pieces seen from both sides. Totally pleased with the finished results… and NO random soda mishaps!!!

Tankard #1 –

Tankard #2 –

Tankard #3 –

As I was making them, I was continually concerned that they wouldn’t be large enough… a minimum of 64-ounces. You know how clay shrinks when it dries… again when it gets bisque fired… and yet again when soda-fired. So I threw them fairly large with the shrinkage in mind… but after each step in the process they kept getting smaller and I kept getting more & more concerned!!! Turns out I was all good… BY FAR!!!… as each of them finished out with a volume of nearly 96-ounces each!!!

When I sent photos of them finished to Larry to choose which one he wanted… I was blown away when he said he loved them and wanted ALL THREE!!! Blown away!!! I was so excited that he loved them so much.

Last night I dropped them off … so nice to complete the commission and pass them off to the client. They will now be on their way to THE ECCENTRIC CAFE in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I can’t wait to see photos of them in “the collection” when they all come together. I know a few of the other potters involved… and it’s sure to be a pretty sweet collection! And then when “things” settle down a bit this summer, I may just need to do a roadtrip to Kalamazoo to see the pottery collection in person!

Doing a little cooking today and it seems I’m getting a little low on my garlic?! Only a few cloves to go before this stamped bowl is empty. Looks like I might be doing some grocery shopping tomorrow, as my breath might be a little stinky tonight… but in the best way possible!

Don’t you love when the sun shines in your window and it hits just right?.. making the coolest shadows & patterns. I just wish that sun would have stayed around a bit longer… welcome back to a Wintery day & a Wintery GRAY!!!

So I tried a new “LIME” glaze in this kiln… and it kinda strikes a childhood holiday memory this time of year?!!!

You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch… I can’t decide… yea or nay???

Bright & shiny new… and SHINY BLUE!!!
A cobalt blue stamped platter fresh outta the kiln!

If anyone in the Chicagoland area still needs a beautiful blue holiday gift, let me know. I’m sure we can figure out a time for you to swing by to pick it up!!!

Shoot me an email for more information – first come, first served!
gary@firewhenreadypottery.com

Looks like there are some new yummies coming out of the oven! More Christmas cookies on a pretty stamped yellow plate. And if the cookies didn’t look yummy enough… SURPRISE!!!… there’s apparently a peppermint patty candy hidden inside! Thanks for the “sweet” photo Jody!

Never too soon to break into some Christmas Cookies, right?!
While decorating for Christmas it’s always good to have some sweet snacks to get you in the mood… again… and again!!! Doesn’t hurt when they’re displayed on a nice holiday green platter either! Thanks for baking & sharing Rosene!