The piece featured in this article's title cover is Kyla Strid's, Fruit Bowl - Leaves.
Somewhere between Dorothy’s house and the Emerald City, I took a strange turn and ended up reviewing clay. Honestly, this might be the most magical side quest because it led me to this clay body, Red Brick Road. Throughout my time at the Lawrence Arts Center, I've encountered this clay numerous times, but never took the leap and actually worked with it. I find it odd that I am comfortable with lighter clays and dark clays, but when it comes to red clays... I get nervous. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but perhaps, it is because of how beautiful they look to the degree where I find them intimidating. Alas, the time has come to put the trepidation to the side and just dive in.
As I was working this clay, I was captivated by how stunning the color is. The deep, warm red rolled out beautifully into a nice slab. I let it sit for about 45 minutes before draping it over a hump mold. For this month's clay of the month, I wanted to keep it simple and make a bowl with a basic foot rim. I recently just acquired a GR Foot Maker tool and I genuinely have no idea how I went this long without one. It truly is a game changer for someone who has been lazy and not taken the extra step to add a nice foot to their bowls. I am talking about myself here, of course.
Red Brick Road draped and pressed over a hump mold.
Once everything dried to almost leather hard, I attached the foot with a generous amount of scoring, using a Xiem Tools Retractable Scoring tool, and slipping. I tend to like my slab-built bowls on the more organically-shaped side, rather than crisp and structured. One of the biggest inspirations for this method is the work of Mike Crouch. He makes gorgeous wood-fired dinnerware that I enjoy holding and eating out of. His bowls and plates each have their own subtle identities that is really charming, compared to the sterile copy and paste sets we see at big corporate home good stores.
[Left] After the foot ring attached onto the form. [Right] The GR Foot Maker and Xiem Tools Retractable Scoring tool used to create and attach the foot.
After the foot was attached, I felt like the piece needed a little more personality. I recently purchased an Embossed Concentric Circle Round Stamp, so I stamped on a loose pattern all around the bowl with it. The Red Brick Road took to it quite nicely, in my opinion, and gave that bowl that extra pizzaz I was aiming for.
Red Brick Road greenware with a pattern using the concentric stamp.
Once this emerged from a bisque firing, it was time for my favorite part... glazing! I opted to go for Laguna's Mushroom glaze on the inside, Mayco's Sage Gloss on the outside, and Orange Ya Happy Stroke & Coat on the rim for added pop of color. I was curious to see how these glazes, especially the orange, would look on the beautiful hue of the Red Brick Road. I had some luck last month with using orange on the darker Bison clay body, so I figured a redder base would be ideal. After brushing on 3 coats of each glaze, this bowl was ready to take some heat! As per usual, my fingers and toes were crossed in the hopes that everything goes smoothly. You can never really predict what the outcome might be, but I had a good feeling about this piece.
[A few days later.]
Well, remember that good feeling I had? That was probably gas or something because I was not pleased with how this piece came out for a few reasons. The inside of the bowl looked a little bland to me, the orange rim was non-existent against the red clay body (Who would have guessed? Clearly, not me.), and the sage gloss just looks odd over the stamping.
With that being said, none of this was the clay's fault by any means. Similar to last month, I should have thought through what I was doing and consider how a non-white clay body would interact with the glazes. If I could go back, I would probably select a floating glaze to make the stamps look more intentional, rather than an after thought. This is all opinion-based self criticism, of course.
Cindy's fired plate using the Red Brick Road.
However, Cindy (the owner) did her own side quest with the iconic Red Brick Road and I would argue that her piece demonstrates the true beauty of this clay body. With a Spherical Square 9.5 GR Form, a white Flower Doodle underglaze transfer sheet, and some Lima Bean Opulence glaze, she created this cute, little plate. You can see how the white transfer sheet stands out beautifully against the deep red.
Up close of the Flower Doodle transfer sheet on the Red Brick Road.
Overall, this clay body is still a winner in my book. It's easy to work with, fires to a beautiful color at cone 5, and the name itself is simply perfect for being made in Kansas!
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Andreas Braz is a fibers and textile artist who circles back to clay whenever it calls him in. After about a year working at Bracker’s Good Earth Clays, he rekindled his relationship with the medium. When he’s not at the shop, he’s usually sewing, tufting, or weaving, keeping his hands in motion and his ideas in rotation. He also teaches at the Lawrence Arts Center, where he shares his commitment to material, process, and tactile exploration.
