How to Make a Woven Ceramic Wall Piece Jeremy Randall

When he found a riveted metal basket at an antique store, Jeremy Randall was taken by its simplicity, and automatically began thinking of ways to play with the form in clay. With the open weave, the pieces were not functional in the traditional sense, but functioned beautifully as wall art, especially with the shadows they cast. 

In today's post, an excerpt from the Pottery Making Illustrated archive, Jeremy shares how he builds these fabulous forms. - Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

PS. To learn how Jeremy glazes and finishes these forms, check out the January/February 2022 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.

I’ve enjoyed finding ways to take clay forms from the table and allow them to spend some time in other spaces, such as on the wall. Serving trays, platters, and other forms can start to take on painterly and sculptural qualities when hung, enabling the interactions we have with them to be quite different than when they are on the table and involved with food and service.

I came across a metal riveted basket form in an antique store awhile back, probably something that had once been used as a protective cover, and fell in love with its simplicity. My mother was a basket maker, so woven forms were common in my life, but this piece was much more simple and straightforward. Because it was riveted, it was just an overlapping arrangement of flat metal strips, and I instantly thought of clay being arranged in a similar way. I quickly realized that one of the most important parts of these forms was the openness of the weave, making these non-functional in the traditional sense, but really activating light and space. When they began to work their way onto the wall, the shadows they created were great. 

Extruding and Placing Coils

Begin by extruding the oval coils in a batch and set them next to the mold. Starting in the middle of the mold form, arrange the coils in parallel from the center out, with the shortest coils being reserved for the outer edges. After turning the mold 45°, extrude another batch and set them next to the mold. I want the coils to be arranged a similar distance apart from each other, so I use a ruler to space them out, then use it to mark the spacing for the perpendicular coils (1). Score and wet the attachment areas of the coils on the mold (2), then put the perpendicular coil back in place. Because the clay is fresh and soft, you only need to score one side. Subsequent attachments will secure the coils in place. Continuing this process for the remaining coils results in a second layer running perpendicular to the first, making a sort of checkerboard pattern of overlapping coils (3). Rolling a pony roller over all of the joints compresses and reinforces the attachments (4). Cut the coils to the edge of the mold, but do so loosely to achieve the rough look.

Jeremy Randall earned his BFA from Syracuse University and his MFA in ceramics from the University of Florida. He currently lives in Tully, New York, where he owns and operates Rusty Wheel Pottery (www.rustywheelpottery.com), a making and learning studio clay space focused on community education in clay.

**First published in 2022.