Posts Tagged “teapot”

Celadon Glazed Porcelain Teapot Circa 2005
The teapot above is a little more sophisticated than the first teapot that I ever made, though it has its fatal flaws too. Namely, I glazed the sieve holes shut and it will never function as a proper teapot. It sits on a shelf in my kitchen; and since I’m not a tea person myself we’re very happy together.

I’m not quite sure why pottery and tea go together like honey and bees but it does. There’s a long tradition of making teapots by pottery and ceramic artists dating back to ancient China. I had the good fortune to watch a demonstration of a group of Chinese potters craft Yixing Teapots when I was in school at the University of Southern Maine. My professor, Ray Chen, brought the traveling artists to campus for a workshop that was just fascinating. The teapots are gorgeous, simple vessels that are hand built - no pottery wheel is used, only a paddle to shape it.

In addition to the teapot demo, they also crafted handmade tools and brushes. The tools were cool, and suffice it to say that the brushes involved stopping for road kill. It might work in the country, but not in Denver proper. I’m not about to go pluck my dog bald either…. Mile Hi Ceramics does carry a range of real animal hair brushes, but they’re rather pricey. I think I’ll stick to my bamboo and hake brushes.

Every so often, I attempt making a teapot if purely for the challenge. Maybe it’s about time I try again. Or, maybe I should try making a coffee carafe?

Happy Tuesday,

~Cynthia

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Tags: cone 6 celadon, teapot, yixing teapots

Stoneware Tea Pot circa Spring 2002, slab built from brown stoneware clay body, glazed to cone 6 in oxidation
I belong to the Etsy Mud Team, a group of artists and crafts people who love working with clay. It’s a fairly diverse group who make anything from ceramic jewelry, functional pottery, to sculptural ceramic objects. We all employ different techniques, materials and processes down to a personal preference for various clay bodies. We are also at varying levels of accomplishment in our clay careers - which is good since ceramic artists are normally very generous with their clay knowledge. The Mud Team is currently working on a teapot “challenge” and entries are due next week. I’ve opted out of the challenge, but decided to look at some of the teapots that I have made since I first touched clay.

In January 2002, I enrolled in my first ceramics class at the University of Southern Maine, after taking a leave of absence from my job at United Airlines and the events of 9/11. I knew that I would love working with clay and it was indeed love at first touch. My very first project was a mask made from stoneware clay - which I have displayed in my bathroom (a post for another day). My class ended up working without much instruction the first month, because my professor’s mother was ill and he flew back to Taiwan to be with her during her last few days.

I was so eager to try making things out of clay and ended up checking out a gazillion books from the library during my prof’s absence. The teapot above is the result of my early experimentation. I was so pleased with myself and have displayed it proudly in my dining room ever since it came out of the kiln, despite the fact that the glaze never fully melted, the lid is ill fitted and it’s heavy enough to kill someone!

Making a teapot isn’t all that complicated once one knows the rules… One being to make the spout higher or at least level with the body so that one can fill the teapot full of liquid. Make it too short, and you’ll only be able to fill the body of the teapot half way, or risk spilling tea everywhere. There are more guidelines that Clay Times has outlined nicely in this article.

Meanwhile, I’ve been substitute teaching every week since August 20th in a K-5 Denver Public School. Guess what? I really like teaching and being in a classroom. I’m even contemplating getting a “real” teaching license which would require a return to school for me to become licensed. One of my goals in life is to leave this world a better place and my job at United didn’t fulfill that desire need nor does working solo in my studio producing work. I think teaching might be a good match and something that I can think about this school year. One of the teachers with whom I was sharing a classroom last week, told me that she thought “I had the gift of teaching.” I was so flattered, but didn’t confess that I was thinking of pursuing teaching as a career.

I’ll be subbing 2 days this week, but have reserved Monday, Wednesday and Friday as full on studio days! I’m ready to get a little muddy again…

Have a good week everyone,

~Cynthia

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Tags: functional pottery, stoneware, teaching, teapot