How to Throw and Alter a Lively Basket Form Ray Brown

When Ray Brown was working on his Bachelor of Fine Arts, he set a goal to do 10 rough sketches of pots per day to help him develop new forms. I have never been much of a sketcher on paper, but I have been trying to do "sketches in clay" lately to broaden my form language. Whichever method feels right to you, experimenting with new forms is essential for continued learning in the studio. As Ray explains "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.

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.