Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
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…

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped, stamps

Stamping mugs again… using my own handmade clay stamps to make the impressions. I press them in when the clay is a soft-leatherhard. Still a little malleable, but not at all sticky. If the pots dry out too much, the stamp won’t go in deep enough to make a good impression.

MUG 1 –

MUG 2 –

MUG 3 –

MUG 4 –

MUG 5 –

MUG 6 –

MUG 7 –

MUG 8 –

MUG 9 –

Next up we need to do some trimming… carving out a footring on the bottom! Then a few handles… and voila’... soon we’ll have more mugs!!!

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

A little early morning stamping… larger vases getting patterned & textured. So now they need some trimming & colored flashing slip accents before they start to dry!

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

So I did a plate-throwing demo in class this week… but who wants a “plain” dinner plate?! Not me… more is more, right?! So I just did a bit of stamping to make it a bit more fun… all done with one handmade clay stamp pressed in one-by-one-by-one-by-one!

Categories: process, production, stamped, stamps, textures

Making grooves… pressing stamps… making frames… playing with textures on another Texture Tuesday!

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped, stamps, surface decoration

MAKING MORE MUGS!
Lots of stamping done… before I can trim & add handles tomorrow!

Categories: mugs, process, production, stamped, stamps, surface decoration

So I’ve been doing a little stamping today… making more mugs with a bunch more stamping!!! So I thought it might be fun to show-off the before & after… and the stamps that did most of the work!

MUG #1 –

MUG #2 –

MUG #3 –

MUG #4 –

MUG #5 –

MUG #6 –

MUG #7 –

MUG #8 –

MUG #9 –

MUG #10 –

MUG #11 –

MUG #12 –

MUG #13 –

MUG #14 –

So for now, they’re wrapped up under plastic… waiting to be trimmed & handled on another day!

Categories: stamped, stamps

Stamping flower pots with my own handmade clay stamps…
one impression at a time… over & over & over…