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

You know how I LOVE textures… so these hand rollers from MKM Pottery Tools are some of my favorite tools in my studio! Sure they make great patterns when rolled onto clay… but even just as an object they’re pretty darn groovy too!!!

Categories: studio, tools

In the studio tonight processing my reclaim clay… slicing, layering, wedging, blending in some fresh new clay… then slicing, layering & more wedging! And look what I found… I’ve been wondering where I “lost” that orange scoring tool?!

Categories: process, production, tools

Especially when you’re trimming with DiamondCore Tools that create these wonderful ribbons of leather-hard clay! Of course it helps when you’re pairing good tools with the Giffin Grip for quicker centering & stability while trimming! The perfect combo of my favorite pottery tools!

Categories: process, production, tools

Time to trim some cylinders… well on their way to becoming a new batch of mugs. Using some of my DiamondCore Tools for smooth & clean trimming!

Categories: surface decoration, textures, tools

A bit more carving with my favorite DiamondCore Tools … creating a fun texture covering the entire exterior of the bowl. For a hot-minute I considered carving the interior the same way… but didn’t… thought it might be too much to clean later?! But now I’m cautiously reconsidering…

Categories: bowls, surface decoration, tools

So this little bowl got a little too hard to fast… and I missed the “window of opportunity” for stamping it. Instead, I did a bit of fun carving with one of my favorite DiamondCore Tools.

Categories: terra cotta, textures, tools

So it’s been a VERY busy past couple days… knowing that I’ve got to get my new Halloween Ghouls done by this weekend! I’ve spent a LOT of time in the studio over the weekend!!! So I’ve been handbuilding… adding parts & pieces to create the characters… and texturing as much as I can! And it’s so much easier with great textured handrollers from MKM Pottery Tools.

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, platters, porcelain, process, production, sgraffito, tools

So I gave some porcelain platters & bowls to Amy Taylor with a band of black underglaze around the rims. I also gave her a couple of my favorite DiamondCore Tools for her to play with. Looks like she’s been doing some amazing sgraffito work for our collaboration pieces for ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview. We’re all trying to finish up our collaborations as we’re just a week and a half away… mark you calendars for September 9th & 10th!

Click here for more info – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

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

Just pulled out some of my MKM Pottery Tools hand rollers to help make some groovy cool textures! Doing a couple quick “test rolls” to figure out which rollers to use on this batch of hybrid mugs!

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!!!