Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: flower pots, flowers, soda-fired, stamped

Plants everywhere are loving their ceramic homes! So happy to be living their best lives in a handmade, stamped & soda-fired flower pots. And you know I want to make more happy plants… so I’m making more flower pots! Thanks Rick for sharing your beautifully blooming African violets!

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped, television

Working in the studio adding some colored slip accents & details to my mugs. Celebrating Mughshot Monday… and what better time to watch “The Great Canadian Pottery Throwdown” watching potters succeed & fail on Reality TV. Also fun to see that my Lillstreet Throwdown’ers had already done some of the same challenges in their class!!!

Categories: bowls, process, production, stamped, stamps

Still working in the studio… and I’ve moved on to stamping some serving bowls. Just have to pick the stamps I want to use… and then start pressing them into the “softer-than-leatherhard” clay one by one… by one… by one…

Categories: process, production, stamped, vases

Just added some handles to this latest batch of oval vases. Not only do I think they’re kinda cute… but they should also help spread & hold the flowers in place! Working towards filling another kiln or two… the summer art fairs are coming soon!!!

Categories: pottery, process, production, stamped

Busy making again… this time it’s bottomless cylinders that get turned into ovals.
No one ever said that wheelthrown pots had to be round!!!

Categories: stamped, textures, tools

Time to start another batch of my “hybrid mugs”…
a combination of wheelthrown & handbuilt parts.
And amazing textures & patterns using hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools.

Categories: process, production, stamped

Just doing a little stamping this afternoon!
Using my own handmade clay stamps… pressed in one by one… by one… by one…

Categories: classes, stamped

Okay, so there may have been a “surprise” trophy too…

Categories: soda-fired, stamped

And since I had tasked my THROWDOWN’ers to make a trio of candlesticks… and knowing that we would see them all again during our final potluck… I knew I wanted to make a set for myself!!! So I did… and then I soda-fired them too!!!

Okay, so “maybe” I made four… just as a back-up in case the soda kiln gods didn’t look favorable upon all of them?! Luckily, all four came out quite nice!!! If I do say so myself…

Categories: classes, process, stamped, textures, tools

While sharing my textured hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools in class, one of my Intermediate students tried to make her own version of my “hybrid mugs.” Darcy has been getting some great results by wheelthrowing a cylinder, then rolling a textured pattern on the sides & then cleaning up the rim again on the wheel. Always good to a student take your “inspiration” and then find a way to twist it & make it their own!