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

Bottoms trimmed… one step closer to becoming “hybrid mugs”!
We just need to add some handles tomorrow!

Categories: mugs, process, production, surface decoration, textures

Taking my textured slabs & turning them into another batch of my “hybrid mugs.” Adding a little handbuilding to the wheelthrown bases. Always fun to play with patterns & textures… made so much easier with textured hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools.

Categories: textures, tools

Got a handful of new rollers from MKM Pottery Tools
making some groovy new textures… making some more hybrid mugs!!!

Categories: friends, textures

A beautiful brick path… a wonderful collection made & installed over the years.
And perfect for another TEXTURE TUESDAY!
Thanks for sharing your bricks & your textures Gerry!

Categories: clay, textures

Let’s just say… not all textured slabs made it to becoming a mug
during the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN! Some didn’t quite survive.

But the clay did live to see another day… after all… “IT’S JUST CLAY!!!”

Categories: challenge, classes, handbuilding, mugs, textures

Another challenge accomplished… after just two hours, my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN‘ers all had fun sets of four handbuilt mugs!!! Each of them featuring fun textures & patterns from MKM Pottery Tools … and special congratulations to Emily for winning first place as a first-time handbuilder!!! I think she might be a prodigy… or a Throwdown Ringer???

Next up?… at the end of the class, they were faced with another challenge in another envelope. I gave them the chance to skip the task in the envelope, but if we opened the envelope they would all HAVE TO follow whatever was inside! They discussed the options, but in the end chose to open the envelope!!!

Turns out their next challenge is now to “color-ize” their mugs with colored slips or underglazes… to highlight the textures & patterns!!! They will bring them back to the next class all decorated… knowing that down the road they can only glaze them with clear glaze!!!

Categories: challenge, classes, patterns, stamped, textures, tools

A lot of texture rolling & pattern pressing happened in class last Thursday night for the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN. I gave them a task… and my MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers for the night! Some students had never really handbuilt before… but they were all eager to start rolling!!! Such great patterns… thank you MKM!!!

Categories: challenge, classes, textures, tools

This week in my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN, we kicked off the class with a few more details about their weekly challenge. Four handbuilt mugs… while utilizing my collection of MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers! The goal of the challenge was four “matching” mugs that highlight the great textures they can make with these groovy texture tools! And you know how much I LOVE texture!!!

Categories: textures, tools

Excited to be sharing some of my newest hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools with my LILLSTREET THROWDOWN students tonight! Little do they know it… but tonight’s challenge is going to be all about textures, slabs & handbuilding! Thanks MKM!!!

Categories: mugs, process, production, textures, tools

So here they are… wheelthrown on the bottoms, handbuilt on the sides! They still need some refining, trimming & handles… but they’re well on their way to a new batch of “hybrid mugs.” And see how well the patterns & textures from MKM Pottery Tools hold-up even when being manipulated into mugs!!!