It’s Day Three of my Facebook Portfolio Challenge.
So far we’ve had Mugshot Monday, Texture Tuesday…
and now I’m calling it “Working Wednesday.” Photos of work in progress.

And today I nominate Marjorie Woodruff, my first wheelthrowing teacher at Lillstreet, to take part in the Facebook 3×5 Challenge!!!

I just posted my SECOND pottery video on YouTube!!! Whoo-hoo!!!
And let me just say for the record, this one went a LOT faster in iMovie… and I remembered to shoot the footage in landscape mode so it fills the screen this time!

Click here for the YouTube video : Bowl Stamping by Gary Jackson.

I think it might have been the hint of Spring yesterday that “inspired” me to make flower pots. So I spent the day in the studio throwing tall flower pots. I decided to make them in two pieces, instead of the attached water drip plate version. Today I focused on the flower pots… the drip plates will be another day.

It was an extra productive day today… as I not only threw all of the pots, but I also had the time to stamped them all as well. It was great how quickly they were drying. When I finished throwing the last one, the first ones were getting stiff along the top edge – perfect for stamping. Talk about a pottery assemble line!!!

Anyone out there want to see how this class demo platter went from plain to fully stamped???
You’ve been asking… there’s a “very good chance” that there may be a video in the works?!

And the stamps that did most of the “magic”…

Guess who is playing with iMovie???…
and might just have something fun to share later this evening???

Tonight I stamped… and stamped… and stamped some more!
My cylinders were still a little squishier than I would like them to be, yet I persevered.
It was a synchronized rotation of unwrapping some, moving some, re-wrapping some, rotating, testing, touching and stamping mugs as they were dry enough to stamp. Sometimes I like them on a little softer side so I can manipulate & move the clay more. Tonight was one of those times… plus, I just wanted to get them done!

So, after a well-orchestrated evening of stamping, I got them all done.
Ten per ware board. One ware board at a time.

Finally, all four trays of mug cylinders have been stamped. So it’s 40 mugs under wraps for the night while they dry up a bit more to a drier leatherhard. Hopefully, I can trim them all tomorrow… and then add handles to them all this weekend?!

While the whole “Keep Calm…” trend is wearing thin, this one struck a chord with me!

And now I’m apparently very “calm” now… after making a batch of new stamps!

Okay, so now I have “official” Fire When Ready Pottery Pinterest boards you can follow.

Yes, I’ve been snowed in and uploading all day.
Five different Pinterest boards full of my pottery images for you to pin & share!
Just do a quick Pinterest Search for the following…

Fire When Ready Pottery

Fire When Ready: Stamping

Fire When Ready: Mugs

Fire When Ready: Tiles

Fire When Ready: Textures

And more to come… although I’m still not sure what I’m doing?!

So it’s been FAR TO LONG since the last time I made teapots. I’ve put them off. And put them off. But I figure it was finally time to tackle teapots. So here we go… the beginnings of six teapots. I started with six shaped cylinders. And then made several lids and several spouts. Pieces & parts. As a production potter, I planned ahead and made the opening pretty much the same size on all six of them. I figure it would give me more chances of a lid fitting if I threw them the same size, and then made multiple lids to fit. Eventually, something’s got to fit together, right?!

I let them stiffen up overnight under plastic. When I came back today, they were ready for some stamping. So I pulled out one of my stamp cases to figure out what patterns I would be using. Big choice… and somehow, I always tend to pick out my favorites. Go figure.

Teapot #1 –

Teapot #2 –

Teapot #3 –

Teapot #4 –

Teapot #5 –

Teapot #6 –

So now everything is wrapped up for the night, drying to leather-hard so I can assemble them later. Lots of pieces & parts to put together to make six new teapots!!!

Last night I stamped some more larger, serving bowls. I always love to see the transformation from the “plain” round bowl to the stamped & textured finished bowl. It always surprises me when I see how much of a change can be made with just a couple stamps!!!

Bowl #1 –

Bowl #2 –

Bowl #3 –

Bowl #4 –

Bowl #5 –

So now they’re wrapped up loosely for the night… hoping to dry them up to a good leather-hard state so I can do some trimming on the bottoms.