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

So fun to watch one of your students “find their voice” & develop their own style in your class. Kristen has truly blossomed in her surface decoration skills. I let her borrow a few of my newest DiamondCore Tools and look what she did with them! Great details with great tools! Looks like Kristen might need to start expanding her tool collection with some more DiamondCore Tools of her own!!!

Categories: process, production, stamped, tools

I mean, who doesn’t like pottery with power tools?! Just drilling some holes through a couple new berry bowls… so much faster, so much louder!!!

Categories: process, production, tools

Trimming some perfect spirals with my DiamondCore Tools! Always fun to see how the trimmed ribbons pile up, fly off or trickle down the sides! Even with a “thinned-over-time” trimming tool, this Diamond Core Trimming Tool stays sharp & still does a great job… but I think I might need to replace the blade soon!!!

Categories: process, production, sgraffito, tools

Fun little flakes scattered all over my latest sgraffito platter. My DiamondCore Tools make nice crisp carving lines… but this platter is already a little drier than I’m used to, so the flakes are everywhere!!!

Categories: mugs, patterns, production, stamped, textures, tools

“Hybrid mugs” assembled, trimmed & handled… and the MKM Pottery Tools that did most of the hard work. Sure, I might have had a tiny-something to do with it too?! But having good tools always makes it more fun!!!

Categories: process, production, tools

Always fun to be trimming in the studio with some great pottery tools… like my trimming tools from DiamondCore Tools & Giffin Grip. The perfect combo when spinning & trimming!!!

Categories: patterns, textures, tools

Getting ready to tackle another batch of “hybrid mugs” with some of my favorite MKM Pottery Tools. Great hand rollers for making textured slabs before I turn them into fun mugs!

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration, tools

After the class discussion & demo about sgraffito, my SURFACE DECORATION class set-off to decorate their own pieces. The goal was to get crisp clean lines & patterns carved through the dark layer of slip or underglaze to reveal the lighter clay body. They really enjoyed using my collection of DiamondCore Tools to get some crisp & clean carving lines. The perfect way to let their creative expressions reveal themselves!

Categories: classes, sgraffito, surface decoration, tools

For my SURFACE DECORATION class last week, we tackled some sgraffito… decorative carving through a contrasting color layer to reveal the lighter clay body color below! We talked about a few techniques & tricks… and then I started carving a couple of my platters as a demo… and soon enough they were ready to tackle their own pieces! Good thing I had my DiamondCore Carving Tools ready for some crisp clean lines… that also made some pretty cool “zebra” layered clippings!

Categories: tools

Sparkly & clean… brand new sgraffito carving tools from DiamondCore Tools. Thanks for making such great tools with sharp edges & comfy handles. I’ve been “hoarding” these new tools in my studio for a little while… but figured it was finally time to break them out to share with my SURFACE DECORATION class. They all assumed they would be doing sgraffito with their own regular trimming tools… but it was a great surprise for them to give these fantastic tools a test drive!!!

And another nice little “perk” from the nice folks at DiamondCore?…
all of their carving tools come with an “extra” spare blade!!!