Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: hybrid mugs, mugs, tools

For those of you attending NCECA this week… the national clay educators conference & trade show… be sure to check-out the folks at MKM POTTERY TOOLS! They’ve got some amazing hand rollers to try out… and some fun postcards they’re passing out!!!

Hey, lookey there… it’s ME!!! …and some of my soda-fired “hybrid mugs” on the MKM postcards!

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: 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!

Categories: patterns, tools

Rolling textures & making patterns with one of my MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers… working with slabs to make some fun pieces for next weekend’s “4×4 : FOUR MAKERS” pop-up exhibition & sale!

Categories: textures, tools

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

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!!!

Categories: process, textures, tools

Working in the studio this afternoon making slabs & pressing textures with some of my MKM Pottery Tools. I love the clean patterns & impressions that these hand rollers make… great for the newest batch of “hybrid mugs” that I’m working on today! These slabs will be part of the “handbuilding” portion of my wheelthrown-handbuilt combo mugs!