Learning from Rafal

My study

Working with the mug that I purchased back in 2025 as an example, I tried to copy the form that I saw in my hands. Stating the obvious, I am not Rafal, I do not have his experience, skills, tools and equipment, so my first attempt was a clunky chunky wonky mug that looks only vaguely like the original. But, as I reminded myself three mugs later, that's the whole idea. The aim is not to make an exact copy of the original. The aim is to follow the artist along the path they've taken, exploring and learning from the experience, going as far as I want/need to. 

As I started my fourth attempt I decided to go back to Rafal's philosophy rather than the exemplar mug in front of me. To focus on form and simplicity. I had also learned that BRT has grit and strength and behaves differently to the midfire white/speckled clay that I usually use. So I made my slabs thinner, just under 5mm. I pinched the edges of the handle and liked the finger marks I left there. I pinched the rim nice and thin and smoothed it with a piece of sponge. I didn't put a coil inside to seal the join between the cylinder and the base, trusting the grit to hold everything together.

Mug made, I looked at the plain surface and thought about carving the lines again into the side. But the lines/stripes I had carved into the three previous mugs weren't working for me. 

Form Follows Function, I thought.
So what's the function of this decoration?
I sat there, mug in hand, thinking some more... 

Once upon a time, the decoration would have been an elaborate maker's mark. I looked at the stripes on Rafal's mug and thought of ZAINI in my last name. The letters are all straight lines... And that's what I carved. 

I made four mugs in this departure from Rafal's stripes, refining elements each time. Pinching the edges of the slab-cut handle as thin as I dared, keeping the finger marks, enjoying how sticky and forgiving the clay was. Pictured here are three of the four. The fourth became a victim of my impatience as I dipped it in glaze while still green/raw, not once, but twice, and the thin walls cracked apart in my hands.

The duds

Are you learning anything if you don't make some mistakes? In the spirit of embracing failure and failing forwards, here are the duds. 

I fired the raw glazed pieces as a permanent reminder of my impatience. 

Pictured here are also the insides of two mugs, one with a coil at the join, and one without. Which do you prefer?  I think the coil free seam is neater, un-fussy, simple. It's the only thing I would change in the mug that I am most pleased with in this series. 

I would also consider my stripe mugs and the mugs with the thick S footer as duds. I could not cut smooth straight stripes like in Rafal's example. But I had to follow Rafal's lead and experience this frustration in order to find my own way. I was so much happier with my carved ZAINI lines. 

I learnt that...

• Simple ≠ easy.

• Feeney's BRT clay is strong and sticky and, surprisingly, a beautiful clay for delicate work.

• I need to be more patient and not double dip!

• sometimes you need to let the clay decide.
  (which sounds a bit coocoo lala but that's what I did with the tea cup pictured which I absolutely adore. I didn't set out to create a handle shaped like that, the clay decided to go that way. I didn't decide to carve the flower footer but the cup felt too heavy and it just happened.)