Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast · Ben Carter

Brad Klem on China painting

·52 min·2 clips

Why some potters work backwards: glaze first, details later, forever.

The conversation starts with porcelain and consequence. Brad Klem's forms carry wildlife, disposable plastic products, and corporate logos, so the decoration never feels innocent. It keeps brushing up against human pressure on the climate. Then the talk tightens around one question: how does he get that fade? The host asks how many firings it takes, and Klem answers by staying with the handwork. Sometimes one firing does it. He describes a water based red resist, then a medium called grounding oil that behaves, to him, a bit like cornstarch and water. The tools are almost funny in their ordinariness. Round teardrop makeup sponges become the way china paint gets pounced onto porcelain until the gradient starts to appear. The host responds as a potter, not just an interviewer. After seeing Klem's pots in person, he remembers being drawn toward their candy-like surface while also feeling thrown by the material mystery of it. That mix gives the episode its pull. Beauty is not treated like polish added at the end. It comes from clay, paint, pressure, and patience lining up until the process starts to disappear. Skill comes up next. Klem points to earlier work with oil painting, watercolor, and other painting practices, but he still talks about the surface as something he is learning. The craft language stays tactile: resist, grounding oil, china paint, sponge pressure, and repeated attention. The closing widens back out to supporters, sponsors, workshops, and listener comments, placing the interview inside a working ceramic community.

As heard by us

Brad Klim uses china painting, repeated firings, and grounding oil to turn porcelain into a sharp study of beauty and climate impact.

Brad Klim's conversation with Carter stays with the handwork: china painting, the slow build of color, and the way Klim turns wildlife, disposable plastic products, and corporate logos into images that pull the eye before they let go. The process is the point.

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Why you'd press play

You want a ceramics conversation where process, image, and climate critique stay tightly braided.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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