TEAPOTS ARE A LOT OF HARD HANDWORK!

TEAPOTS ARE A LOT OF WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     It took three tries to get the handle on my first (volunteer) teapot, no telling if it will fall off or make it through the firing.  AND, I do not like the little hairline crack that is appearing at the top of the spout…

 

Here are the parts for the second teapot.

The lid is the hardest to make because it has to be made to fit the mouth of the body.  I still haven’t learned how to make the little doodad that hooks into the rim of the gallery so the lid won’t fall off when you pour.   For one thing, I think my gallery is too thick, flows too easily into the body and so does not allow a place for a “hook”.  Because of this there is no horizontal surface on which to hook the hook.   This time I did not hang the pulled handle on the edge of the board (remember last one fell off its perch and cracked), and did not wait as long to shape it to the pot.

I used an old button to form a design on the top of the lid handle:

 

 

I say the lid is the hardest, but that’s what makes it fun, because it’s a challenge.  I love all the processes of messing in clay, so the recycling of inadequate thrown pieces is just another excuse to cut and slam and knead the clay.   My only concern about that is that the porcelain (Standard 213) seems to lose a little creaminess after three or four recycles.   Hope I’m not losing some major ingredient the absence of which will manifest during the firing.    

So, TA DAH...........here are the finished teapots.  

 

The one with the line decorations will probably have to be a sculpture because the thing is so heavy.   I refuse to recycle the clay to try again.  Three times is two too many.  (See the design from the button on top of the lid handle?)

Well, folks, I’m out of clay.  

I won’t be posting any more until we make a run to Capitol Clay Arts in Charleston, WV (the best little clay distributor/ceramics classes I know).  

Rest in Peace, Elizabeth Taylor.

ttfn

mec