Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: platters, stamped, stamps, surface decoration, textures

Adding a little texture, pattern & design to a large platter… using one of my handmade clay stamps. Pressed into the rim of the platter one stamp at a time… one by one… by one… by one…

Categories: stamped, stamps

Finishing up a dinner plate class demo with a little stamping around the rim. Sure, I could have left it plain with a nice spiral… but you know how I subscribe to the “more is more” theory of pottery!

Categories: platters, stamped, stamps, surface decoration, textures

Another large platter wheelthrowing demo… got a little makeover once I got it up to my studio. Just a couple stamps here & there. All made with one handmade stamp pressed in one-by-one-by-one…

Categories: challenge, classes, platters, stamped, stamps

Never one to back down from a challenge… I kinda felt obligated to make a clock for my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN as well. Sure, I coulda’ done a cartoon… but I felt this was more my style! The twist was that I used my student’s stamps that they made during a previous THROWDOWN challenge!!! They had no idea that I snuck them out of the bisque kiln & used them on my clock before I distributed them during the next class!!! So much fun to show it off during our final class! Fun clay clocks for everyone!!!

Categories: stamped, stamps, textures

Just a little bit of stamping going on today… one last project I think I can still get done in time for next weekend’s soda kiln firing?!

Categories: classes, platters, stamped, stamps

I’m assuming you’ve figured it out… my THROWDOWN class made large platters… and then made their own stamps… any guesses???

Well, I was “hoping” that they might not have put it together, but I think they all had a pretty good clue! Anyway, this week’s LILLSTREET THROWDOWN challenge was to take the stamps they made last week and decorate their platters using primarily their stamps as their surface decoration technique! And many of them have never stamped before!… wait, what?!!!

Categories: platters, process, production, stamped, stamps, textures

Just a handmade stamp & a pointy piece of wood. Soon enough I had this fully stamped platter ready to start drying more. Still needs to be trimmed… but one step closer to done!

Categories: classes, handbuilding, stamps

I’ve made a LOT of clay stamps over the years… so why not challenge my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students to do the same?! So last week in class, they were each tasked with making three handmade clay stamps during class. Easy enough, right?!

Except for the fact that they had to choose three random words sight-unseen… and then make a stamp that represented each word!!! Not too tough… except for the fact that they couldn’t even “test” their stamps to see how they did until they dry & are bisque fired. Some of them were pretty darn thick, so they’re going to take awhile to dry fully!

Categories: platters, stamped, stamps

Just doing a little stamping on a class demo plate…
I’m sure it will make the food taste even better on it later!

Categories: platters, process, production, stamped, stamps

Another night in the studio… and some more stamping done! I had a class demo platter under wraps in my studio that I kinda forgot about. So I was relieved that it was still wet enough to do some stamping on it tonight. One-by-one… by one… by one…