One benefit of raw-glazing her ceramics rather than hardening them in the kiln before adding decoration, was that it allowed Lucie Rie to add further designs by cutting into the still slightly soft clay after glazing. Using a needle Rie would cut through the raw glaze to reveal the clay body beneath—a technique called sgraffito. The lines were often drawn impossibly close together in concentric circles and grids, cutting through deep richly colored glaze to review the sharp white clay body beneath.
Another technique related to sgraffito and often seen in Rie’s work is inlay. To create an inlay effect, Rie would again draw on the leather hard clay with a needle, the brush pigment into the scratched lines, and sponge away excess material to leave glaze only within the etched line. This technique produces exceptionally sharp colored lines which could not be achieved with a brush. Reactive oxides, such as manganese, were often used in inlay lines to create a "bleeding" effect as the glaze burst from the sharp line. Manganese is used to great effect on the current vase where Rie has applied a graphic contrasting grid of manganese inlaid lines and sgraffito lines against manganese bands.
