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

Looks like a yummy lunch for Allison…
complete with a stamped mug on another MUGSHOT MONDAY!

Categories: friends, mugs

Looks like Sarah is kicking off her day with an iced coffee in her new stamped & soda-fired mug! Good chance there might be some yummy baked goods to go with it… as she’s one of the contestant bakers on THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW. If you haven’t watched yet, you can still steam it for FREE on www.therokuchannel.comno ROKU box needed!

Categories: bowls, color, food, friends, stamped

Looks like Sarah has been tossing a yummy salad in her stamped bowl. Beautiful & healthy all at the same time!

Categories: food, friends

Looks like Martin… my pottery student & favorite reality show baker… has been busy in his kitchen again! This time with HOMEMADE strawberry OREOs on top of my handmade cake plate!!! Now he’s just showing off…

In case you’ve forgotten… Martin was one of the competitors on THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW. Same as The Great British Bake-Off but with contestants from The States… same tent, same judges, etc. And you can still stream all six episodes for FREE on The Roku Channel… no box needed. Just go the www.therokuchannel.com to see how our Martin fares in the kitchen!!!

Categories: mugs, production, wheelthrowing

It was a pretty productive morning today in the studio. Seems like I always start with my “default”… making more MUGS!!! You know they’re my favorite thing to make!

Categories: classes, surface decoration

After wiping away the excess underglaze, my SURFACE DECORATION students were left with cylinders with great “illustrations” incised into their cylinders highlighted with colorful underglaze. These will now dry & be bisque-fired… and then glazed. It was a great way for my class to wrap-up after tackling several different techniques over the past 10-weeks. Thanks for playing everyone!

Categories: classes, surface decoration

After letting the underglaze set-up a bit in the carved areas, we gently wiped away the excess that was sitting on top of the wax resist… carefully leaving as much underglaze in the carved lines as possible.

Categories: classes, surface decoration

After carving their mishima patterns, my SURFACE DECORATION students then painted the waxed surfaces with colored underglazes. The idea is that the underglaze can “fill” the carved patterns, but will sit on top of the wax everywhere else!

Categories: classes, surface decoration

Last night we celebrated the end of our SURFACE DECORATION class with one last technique… MISHIMA. First we painted the surface with a layer of wax resist. Once dry, we carved designs into the clay with sharp-tipped tools… with the plan of carving through the wax & into the clay. Such focus… such determination…

Categories: bike, sunrise

Another quiet morning along the lake. The waves were rolling in as the sun was rising slowly through a hazy layer of clouds… err, maybe some of the “smoke” on the horizon from the Canadian wildfires? Not quite as crazy as what New York is experiencing… but it made for a cool red sunrise nonetheless.