Teapot Challenge

Should you be looking for a good challenge, learn how to make a vessel in the manner by which another potter does. Same tools, same techniques, same weight of clay. Try teapots. Joseph had been making some teapots last week and I was watching him, seeing how he attached his spouts, made the lids, etc. By the end of the week I decided to make a few of my own, and as I went to make the teapot, Joseph said to make it in the same shape as his. This bellied-out base is somewhat harder to achieve than it may look. It certainly fooled me! I went through about 15 teapots before I really started getting the hang of it and stopped making the walls too thin!

Spouts thrown off the hump

Joseph also has a different way of making spouts than what I was used to, so that was a bit of a late-evening nightmare trying to get the hang of it. Nothing really major to describe, just the shape, thinness, and throwing off of the hump was a lot to control!

Lids

So I got the shape down pretty well (FINALLY), made the lids and let everything dry out a bit before assembling and putting handles on them.

Teapot bodies with spouts

Today I got to decorate the little beasts and was very pleased with the decorations. I am excited to see the results. The darker slip is a manganese slip and should be blackish-brown. The two teapots with slip trailing over most of the upper-half will be glazed entirely in a yellow/brown ash glaze. All of these are going in the salt kiln in April.

Here are my decorations in detail:

I attempted to layer the slips in order to see what the colors would do over one another

I even put a little swirl-action on the top of the knob!

Third Friday

This past Third Friday at the North Carolina Arts Incubator was a little quiet, but they have a great exhibition up to support the Haw River Assembly! If you have a chance and are in the area, I highly recommend going to see it. The exhibition is of the Paintbrush Forest project.

Showing how I smooth the edges of my pulled handles by running my thumbs down the side

I brought my work up from the basement studio area and finished up some teapots with a small audience.  It's always great to have a chance to talk about your work as you're doing it and having people ask questions. It makes me think more about the whole process and get a second set of eyes analyzing how I proceed. I put handles on a set of mugs and finished up some teapots I threw earlier last week.

Attaching the handle and talking about placement and making sure it is securely attached

When I attach the spout to the teapots which have spiral facets, I always feel like the base of the spout looks a little odd. I think it's because I don't feel like the smooth base blends in well with the spiraled side. So I have been adding decorations to the base of the spouts on my teapots lately.

Two new teapots. A little larger than the last ones. 

I showed a few decorations when I debuted some new teapots, but I've been going for a little more this time around.

Close-up of the decoration at the base of the spout

I'm excited about putting together a few tea sets and the (hopeful) exquisite outcome!

Tinkering with the Teapot

I apologize if I am driving anyone crazy with my alliterations. I am fond of them, but I'll try to vary it from now on!
On to teapots.
I made a teapot on the wheel last weekend, and finished it up the other night. I have not made a prolific amount of teapots, so I thought I would share the components of my new adventure into the world of teapotting. Here are the components of the teapot separated (well, okay, I didn't get the camera out until after I put the handle on and had finished the lid):

Teapot body, spouts, and lid.

Finger loop for the front of the teapot and spouts.

The lid before I trimmed it and threw a knob on top looked like this (as a note, this example lid is the second lid I had thrown. Always throw in multiples!):

And before it got trimmed on top of the teapot, the lid looked like this:

I sized up the spout, made a few marks and moved it around a bit. Then I temporarily stuck it on the side to see if it looked right:

After I decided it was placed correctly, I punched the holes for the liquid to pour out (sorry, no photo, I forgot!) The base of the spout got a little squished when put it on, not to mention that a straight spout on a faceted teapot looked a little out of place. So, after I put the finger loop below the spout I had some extra clay on hand, and I added some little bits around the edge of the spout:

The final product:

I think I am going to angle the sides in a little more, and maybe tame the knob some. I'll keep you posted. Happy potting.