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
Tags: cone 6 celadon, teapot, yixing teapots
Entries (RSS)