Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: classes, glaze, pottery, stamped

Last night I helped one of my students load her very FIRST KILN!

Christine has been testing every underglaze & clear glaze in class… and has been wanting to test the commercial celadons in cone six. So she saved some of her stamped work from class, spray-glazed them up with commercial glazes… and soon enough we should have some beautiful pots to show off! Can’t wait to see your results Christine!!!

Categories: platters, stamped, textures

Another pretty green platter fresh out of the kiln. A beautiful green glaze that highlights the stamped patterns & textures, as well as the concentric circles in the center… an ever-so-slight diversion from my typical spiral-addiction!!!

Categories: flowers, garden, patterns, pottery, soda-fired, textures, vases

So I’ve been trying to grow some of my own bittersweet over the past few years. First on a trellis in my back yard…. err, cement courtyard in a large pot. A few years later I moved it to my front yard garden to grow up a street lamp. I’ve always gotten pretty good leaves… but this year was the first time I’ve ever found the flowers & berries on my plant! Very exciting… as it’s completely growing up & taking over the lamp post!!!

Categories: bike, sunrise

Another colorful bike ride along the lakefront this morning.
Low-flying clouds splashed with morning colors.

Categories: friends, mugs

Looks like Christmas came early for these two… with Kristy & Matt spreading a little pottery love & Christmas magic with their friends! While at the same time showing off their own ever-growing pottery collection on those cool floating shelves in the background of their kitchen!

Categories: bowls, color, stamped, textures

You gotta love it when the sun comes streaming through your window catching a Christmas crystal and making mini-rainbows appear in all the right places!

Categories: creativity, food, television

So funny… watching a cake decorating contest show on The Food Network… and they just used a Brent Potter’s Wheel as the turntable for a piece of their cake showpiece! Brilliant… apparently not just for clay any more!

Categories: television

Well, last night was the big finale of SURVIVOR 41…
so much fun & congrats to the Big Winner… no spoilers here!

And now it appears as though I can try to do a “tribal merge” of my love for SURVIVOR with my never-ending quest for the perfect Ugly Christmas Sweater!!!

Categories: friends, holiday, ornaments

The latest addition to my handmade Christmas ornament collection! An adorable little polar bear lovingly crocheted by my friend & Holiday Elf Rachel.

Categories: animals, creativity, friends, holiday, My Talented Friends, ornaments

So excited to add two new Cory McCrory ornaments to my Christmas tree this year! Such an adorable addition to my handmade ornament collection! Cory makes amazing pieces handbuilt with paper clay, great textures, fun colors… and always a dash of whimsy!!! I mean… who doesn’t need a chicken and a bunny on their tree?!

And they’re BELLS too!!! That Cory McCrory thinks of everything!!!