🎧 Thrown and Altered Basket Ray Brown

Appears in the September 2024 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 make utilitarian pottery with the intent to provide the user with an entrance into a memorable and contemplative experience. Crafting works that are soft, inviting, generous, and strong, I intend for the user to leave with a sense of thoughtfulness and curiosity. I wish to achieve cohesive forms that capture a confidence of line, with supporting crisp and energetic surface decoration. Both in surface and form, I strive for a captured, pressurized volume within my pieces, as if they are inhaling. Furthermore, I am interested in translating curvilinear patterns and line work into three-dimensional forms inspired by architecture as well as Mid-Century Modern aesthetics and the Streamlining era. Artists from the era, including Eva Zeisel and Russel Wright, are constant influences. 

During my BFA at the University of Mississippi, while working with Matt Long and other mentors during summer internships, I found gestural proportion drawings of pots helpful. I would set a goal to do ten drawings a day based on what I was working on in the studio at the time. Playing with form allows me to create countless pots and iterate between them. 

Initial Forms and Alterations 

I use a cone-6 Grolleg porcelain with fine molochite. I enjoy its plasticity while throwing and altering, allowing for stamping and expansion from the inside. Forms start out as straightforward, simple blanks, which I then push, squeeze, and stretch into parts to play off of. Usually, I’ll make a series of five vessels at a time, each different. With each group, I celebrate differences in form. Playing with form is central to my work, and the clay allows for a bright background. Since underglazed portions remain unglazed, the clay needs to be vitrified and smooth enough where the underglaze is abraded away. 

Generally, I throw thick. This allows me to work energetically with a rib and stamps, where a thinner form would tear apart. Begin an altered basket with a simplified form thrown on the wheel and use a cut metal rib to provide an undulating line, around one third up (1). This line provides a guide for trimming, as a visual device to frame the stamping and glaze, and as a glaze catch. At this stage, I use a torch lightly to remove surface moisture for the next step, altering. 

By altering immediately, the floor of the form is plastic enough to stretch without buckling and warping. Typically, to achieve an oval form, I would take a dart from a circular bottom and squeeze the sides together. With this clay, I find it unnecessary. Press inward at the base (2), then pick up and stretch outward toward a corner, stretching the floor. 

Developing the Surface 

The surface stems from undergraduate and graduate research, as well as ways of incorporating color. Within an intuitive approach to surface I try to add as many layers as possible, while anchoring them together with shared elements. These elements help support and unify the work. 

Stamping comes from undergraduate and graduate research into Mid-Century Modern aesthetics, as well as slipware linear motifs (see 3). I took linework from historical pots and changed it, adding angles and creating new relationships. The linework evolved from research into calligraphy, brushing glaze inside a line composition, waxing over it, and applying a contrasting glaze. This approach changed into separate forms connected by sandblasting. Cut from bisqueware, they relate to how I think about form. 

Trimming and Additions 

Leaving forms thicker at the base allows me to handle trimming in a particular way. My research in form centers around inflated volumes and building relationships between hard edges and soft curves. I hand trim (4), as it allows me to respond to the line set up by the rib, while also creating a composition within the trimming itself. I’m looking to accentuate the soft stage of the material. The trimming further obscures how the object is made and provides an anchor for the underglaze surface. I use stamps at the end to punctuate the soft, undulating quality of the trimming. 

The rim is cut in a similar language to the stamps and trimming. I think about how the rim of the basket brings attention to the handle attachments and emphasizes the upward movement of the flowers it will contain (5). Next, add coils then blend and refine to highlight a curvilinear quality (6–9). 

Connect a thick, pulled handle and leave a generous amount of material at the attachments (10). Adding extra clay to bulk out the contour is a great solution for areas that seem too anemic. Once attached (11), I cut and shave the edges of the handle (12). Pinch out a small ball of clay to form a decorative finial for the basket handle (13). Close this pinch pot, then paddle, shave, and refine before cutting the handle apart at its highest point and attaching (14, 15). I find attaching the handles back together before cleaning helpful. Lastly, compress the attachment points with a rounded wood stylus and add a stamp. 

Glazing and Sandblasting 

I use Velvet underglazes from Amaco and do three coats in total. I pick colors that stand out after being abraded, and am currently researching more combinations. Prior to underglazing, the piece is bisque fired to cone 04. Once out, the underglazing begins (16). After two layers of color are allowed to dry, a third layer of black goes on. The piece is placed back into a cone-04 bisque to set the underglaze for sandblasting. 

Sandblasting is the most tedious but rewarding step in my process. I apply vinyl stickers that visually relate to the stamps on the surface (17). These allow for a subtle layer of information under the glazed surface similar to water etching. The clay around the stamps and underglaze is abraded through sandblasting to reveal the layers below (18, 19). Finally, the piece is thoroughly sanded, washed, and dried for glaze. 

My mindset for glazing developed in graduate school, and I find a simple approach is usually better. I add a small stripe of red to accentuate the rim. I use a cone-6 clear glaze by Jeff Campana with a series of stains to achieve a tricolor effect, drawing from historical forms from the Tang Dynasty (20). The whole piece is dipped into the clear glaze (21). I find applying the stained glaze directly on bisque surface allows the color to move just enough. After glazing, I spray a Gillespie borate and lithium carbonate wash on the surface. This gives the bare underglaze enough flux to become smooth while helping the clear drip. Pots are wadded and placed into the kiln. 

Finishing Touches 

I use a standard cone-6 firing program, and I’ve slowly narrowed the temperatures to get the best maturation and movement possible. Sometimes the drips are crazy and some cleanup is required. With the pots wadded, the extra space allows for glaze to drip off the foot with minimal to no cleanup. 

I use legal-size decal paper and cut shapes using a vinyl cutter. The shapes relate to the stamps, and act as another playful layer of information. Once the pots are ground and clean, decals are applied to the surface. The decal’s adhesive is given sufficient time to dry, then the pieces are placed back into the kiln and fired to a lower temperature, around cone 018. During the course of my research, I’m continuing to play with other colors and methods, each requiring a different firing schedule and temperature. 

The challenge of making every part of a pot feel unified is really what keeps me going with these baskets, all the parts are fun to put together. 

the author Ray Brown is from Houston, Texas, lives in Oxford, Mississippi, and is currently a ceramic technician and instructor for the Ole Miss ceramics program. He received his BFA from the University of Mississippi and his MFA from West Virginia University. Brown is currently researching new forms and surfaces. To learn more, follow him on Instagram: @rlbrown1995.