Project 7: teapot

As I mentioned in my last entry I worked project 6 & 7 at the same time so this teapot was also made with a kilo of clay. I decided to experiment with a slightly different design with this teapot, so it was really enjoyable.

This teapot body had the most appealing shape. It was almost a teardrop or pear. 

I tried several different styles with the teapot handle. This was the one I decided to go with. I wanted it to be almost bucket like and to appear used so I left the marks in the clay from my hand.

I then decided where the handle attached it needed a little something extra so I added some little clay bits to look like rivets.

I felt it made a huge difference.

After attaching the spout I decided I did not like the handle on the lid. I wanted something more artistic to go with the handle design. In the picture below you can see the change. Again I wanted to leave the movement in the clay so I did not try to make a perfect squared off attachment.

Next I decided I wanted to paint a design on the sides in slip. Slip is just clay with oxide mixed in. This particular one is best left without glaze over the top. 

I decided to go with dragonflies and bamboo.

Overall I was really happy with it, although the design took away from the shape a bit. The next class I went in and my instructor said he had thought about my design and wanted to show me something. He showed me a way to carve the painting out a bit and give it more detail on a piece of clay he had.  I loved it and decided to try it on my teapot.

I feel like it made a huge difference! I was really happy with the way it looked.

After the first firing I applied wax to the design so I could glaze around the design.

Then I glazed the teapot. I decided to use a light matte blue that shows variation according to its thickness. There was not much left so I had to pour the glaze instead of dip. I was a bit worried as this glaze needs to be applied a bit thick to come out blue otherwise you get a more yellow color. My instructor said not to worry as I could not control it :)

I was a bit disappointed as it was not as I had hoped, but most people really liked. In fact it was the one everyone liked the most. This is the process of ceramics though and if you do not try new things then you can not learn or get more interesting results. In the end I have grown to like it more as it looks like someone poured water over it but it was not what I had envisioned and I would definitely have tried it again if I was still in the same studio.

Project 6: Teapot

First of all my apologies for the huge gap in my posts. I have moved abroad so I was a bit preoccupied. Hopefully I will be able to be a bit more consistent with my posts. Project 6 is another teapot; however I decided to try to increase the amount of clay I was working with. I worked project 6 & 7 together and the body of the teapots both started with 1 kilo of clay. This time I tried a couple of new techniques. One was to square the body of the teapot after I threw it. 

The next was to make a rim underneath the lid so it would sit inside of the body of the teapot.

Before I turned the bottom of the teapot and worked on the lid I threw some spouts and pulled some handles so they could dry enough for me to work with them. Here is a picture of a handle in process.

Assembling the teapot.

Here is the assembled teapot.

I decided to carve the sides of this teapot and take a slice of the spout to make a more appealing shape. I was only going to do about five diagonal lines in the sides; however my instructor suggested I should be less precise and just carve randomly.

This was the result.

Here is the lid.

After carving I sponged off where I carved so no rough bits would be left after firing.

I decided to go with the ginger glaze. It comes out a deep brick red with some dark black areas. It is a beautiful and very consistent glaze.

Here it is after being dipped in the glaze.

Next the wait to be fired...

The most exciting part of the ceramic process for me is the final firing. Sometimes it can be a bit disappointing but most of the time it's wonderful!

Here is the final result from both sides.

I am getting better and better at my teapots. Each one I learn more and improve part of my design. Overall I am very happy with this one. I still have not got the smoothest pour but I am working on it.