🎧 Altering Organic Forms Liz Mazurek

Appears in the March 2025 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.

I have always been interested in the inviting plasticity of clay and how the human body parallels similar tangible qualities. Our bodies, like clay, are both soft to touch and ever evolving. Skin holds memory of movement, much like pressed indentations in vessels reveal the story of their making. By altering thrown pots to create organic shapes in my work, I encourage the user to find comfort and familiarity with the object to evoke a deeper connection to oneself. 

Forms thrown on the wheel such as cylinders and flared vase-like shapes serve as blank canvases that I can stretch in any direction. The possibilities for alteration are limitless—to belly one side out and pinch the other like a baby’s cheek give my work an animate quality that calls to our own features. 

Throwing and Altering 

A simple form thrown on the wheel can be stretched, sliced, darted, and dimpled to become both playful and complex. I use Aardvark’s Cone 10 Coleman Porcelain for its exceptionally buttery texture and ability to be stretched thin while maintaining structural integrity in high-temperature firings. This clay body fires snowy white and captures gorgeous flashing reds in reduction, highlighting vibrant colors amongst sparkly crystal growth. 

To make a mug, begin by throwing a cylinder on the wheel with roughly one pound of clay (1), maintaining that each piece is unique and individual in size. For pouring vessels, use more clay to throw a larger cylinder and flare its base (2). When altering, I value that no two pots are alike. Once the form is thrown, leave it exposed to dry just enough that the piece is not sticky to the touch but is extremely pliable, between freshly thrown and leather hard. Working when the clay is moist allows the piece to preserve the alterations easily without creating stress cracks while drying. This is especially important when attaching handles and decorative additions. 

Using a combination of bare fingers dipped in water and a damp sponge, I will begin bellying the piece from the inside out. Working from the inside at the bottom of the cylinder, apply pressure along the inner wall, pushing out while sliding your fingers up toward the rim until the wall of the mug begins to swell. The first swell indicates where the handle will go in later steps, often making it the largest (3). This applies to pitcher forms as well. I repeat this bellying motion around the entirety of the piece, holding the side of the mug with fingers spread apart and pushing out the spaces in between (4, 5). I select areas of the piece to dimple, where fingers would fit most comfortably, and press the clay inward. 

Making decisions when working in the round is cause and effect. How will one indentation be in conversation with the other side of the piece when glancing from the side or the top? I often peer at the piece from various angles. When one side is swaying outward, the opposite will be tucked in. 

Trimming 

Now that the piece is altered, excess clay around the bottom needs to be removed to accentuate the exterior curves and make it lighter. Once the clay sets up to a dampness between pliable and leather hard, I use a fettling knife to follow the curves along the bottom to cut away any sharp edges (6). After cutting away the excess, use a Surform to gradually remove even more clay to further round the piece, following the external curves beneath the mug (7). Finally, using the flat edge of a metal rib, scrape away the markings left by the Surform tool to expose a pillowy, rounded surface (8). Once all the trimming is done, I thoroughly sponge the surface to remove any burrs and scratches until the clay is free of blemishes. 

Handles 

I pull handles from a carrot-shaped chunk of clay and let them set up slightly to a pliable dampness similar to the vessel before using a serrated rib to score the altered piece (9). For larger forms, ranging between 3–6 pounds of clay, I will pull a rather long handle and rest it on a curved object like a bucket, or flat on a plaster block to set up just enough that I can bend it into my desired shape. 

The handle is already quite wet when I attach it, so I simply dip the metal rib in water, score the piece to create a slip directly on the surface, score the attachment points on the handle, and attach it to the piece (10, 11). I use the excess clay from the handle to meld it onto the body of the mug so that it has a seamless attachment, as if it were growing out of the side. Once the handle and the piece have set up to just about leather hard, go in with the Surform and remove excess clay around the handle to thin it out and sharpen its appearance. I will also do the same for the lip, giving it an undulation to further lean into its soft composition. Using a small knife, cut away the inside of the lip at a 45-degree angle to thin and sharpen it, sponging away any hard edges (12, 13). 

Darting and Altering Larger Forms 

When creating pouring vessels and vases, I often use an altering technique called darting: cutting away a triangular or diamond-shaped area on a thrown vessel (14, 15) and sealing the two remaining sides together to give a cinched appearance (16). Along with tall, whimsical handles, I find that darting gives pitchers and vases animate qualities, like placing one’s hand on their hip. Following the same altering technique for my mug process, I bulge one side of the piece where I have cut away the clay where the handle will go and tighten the opposing side (17). 

Glazing and Surface Decoration 

Creating organic forms begs the question of what kind of surface will match its softness. To relate to the suppleness of skin, I have selected a stony matte finish that in slow-cooled, cone-10 reduction will bloom tiny sparkling crystals and blush shades of pinks and reds when exposed to copper carbonate. 

I use a satin white glaze as the interior liner, then I dip each vessel in a white matte exterior base glaze. Once the pots are all glazed both inside and out, I use a mixture of copper carbonate, a small amount of the base glaze, and 80% water, and place it into a sprayer. I line the pieces next to each other with the sides I intend to see a post-fired flash of pink facing me and quickly spray across them. 

To encourage more of the pinkish-red flashing, I rotate the pieces and spray again or apply a second layer over the first—the more copper spray, the darker red the copper will turn in reduction. Once all the pieces are sprayed with the flashing mixture, I use an abstract approach when applying colorants and oxides to maintain uniqueness in each piece. To decorate, I use a small paint brush and sprinkle various oxides and encapsulated Mason stains directly onto the surface and use a spray bottle with water to secure them down (18, 19). 

To further emphasize curvature and dimples, I place a layer of wax resist into the dimples and along the rim of the outside of the mug. Then, I sprinkle a fine layer of soda ash on top of the wax to make it stick (20). By intentionally placing soda ash in these areas, I am able to produce a glassy dripping effect that highlights individual curves along the work, creating irreplicable uniqueness in each design. Most recently I have been experimenting with other oxides and Mason stains to produce greens, baby blues, cobalts, and yellows. I have learned that more oxides and colorants react with each other along with the kiln’s atmosphere, producing varying results each time. Firing with a slower cool reveals speckled crystals to vibrant red drips, but may be prone to excessive running. My forms are constantly evolving with each batch as new information is captured with every firing; there is something to be learned from each piece as they all turn out unique. 

the author Liz Mazurek, originally from Texas, has since worked as an artist and educator of ceramics in Colorado and California. She currently creates altered ceramic wares and exhibits her work nationally. See more on www.lizpotz.com and on Instagram @lizpotz.