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

Just spending a little “quality time” with my diamond grinding disc from DiamondCore Tools !!! Cleaning off a few drippy soda-fired. bottoms. Notice the mug bottom before & after… plus a few more to come!

Just put the grinding bat on the wheel, wet the disc, wet the pot, press… spin… grind… CLEAN!!! Thank you DiamondCore Tools for making this ugly task so much easier & smoother!!!

Categories: handbuilding, soda-fired, stamped

Hard to believe it’s the last day of November… and therefore time for another handmade chain for the “Chain Of The Month Challenge.” So here’s November’s entry… fresh out of the soda kiln. Fired in a “medium” soda area so that the links wouldn’t fuse together… and yet still get enough soda exposure for some fun flashing effects! Number eleven… can’t believe we just have one more to finish off the year?!

#2021chainchallenge
#handmadechain
#chainlinks2021

Categories: classes, holiday, lillstreet, wheelthrowing

Last week in my Intermediate Wheel class, we decided to tackle wheelthrown Christmas trees… as they seem to be all the rage on Instagram! So we started throwing and soon enough had a forest of groovy shapes & styles!!!

And here are my class demos… more trees & more styles to come…

Categories: sunset

Urban sunset tonight… colorful changes two minutes apart.

Categories: friends, mugs, stamped

I just love when my friends & customers share their pottery being used at home. Seeing how my pottery is becoming part of their everyday rituals excites me.

“Enjoying my first cup of coffee in my newest mug from Fire When Ready Pottery” – Kristen

Categories: bowls, food

Looks like Kristy is kickin’ back on a chilly Sunday with her homemade comfort food in some of my handmade pottery bowls! Thanks for sharing your tummy-warming meal Kristy!

Categories: bike, Chicago, sunrise

Another chilly morning with a layer of low-flying clouds on the horizon. A slow start to a beautiful morning.

Categories: friends, pottery, stamped

Always fun to see a pottery collection coming together after the latest Holiday Home Show… with Keith & Julie sharing the latest additions to their ever-growing collection. They’ve got some nice colors going on here… as well as the “first-of-one” pillar candle holder that was on “The Tired Of Shlepping” sale shelves!!

Categories: food, holiday, platters, stamped

A platter of fun… on a fun platter!
Thanks to Beth for sharing this glamour shot of her antipasto appetizer plate from her festive Thanksgiving celebration. So glad my stamped platter got to enhance this masterpiece of yumminess!

Categories: classes, mugs

For the final class of my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we decided to up-the-game by going with THREE “matching” mugs. We started with all of the mugs in brown lunch bags. Then we drew numbers to randomize the choosing of mugs… followed by some fun trading, stealing & switching games! No mug was “safe” until the mug trading hijinks were over!

As the bags were opened, we all got to see each other’s creations… along with a little discussion of technique & glazes… combined with a little bit of critique & the appropriate amount of gushing!

Somewhere along the way, someone picked the brown bag that had Christine’s first mug for the game. Tina opened it up… and the game went crazy! Suddenly the game took a turn… as it suddenly became all about ME… and one of my favorite mottos!!!

Gotta love it!!!
So excited that my pottery mantra has been forever memorialized in clay!!! The fact that “my mug” graces the other side of Christine’s mug is just crazy!!!

We each ended up with a nice trio of mugs! Such a fun way to share & trade… and start-off everyone’s Mug Collection!