The last clay of the year - the first teapot of the year: "
A process of creating teapot - may be you have seen it before, may be not.
I decided to show you birth of the teapot in the last days of the 2010 as it will fully come to live by fire in 2011. Remember - until the first tea is pouring from the teapot it is still only clay...
I work with different clays - in this case I choosed porcelain, which we got from one Czech porcelain factory. Work with this porcelain is not easy, but it is worth it. White, translucent body on which glazes are clear and unglazed parts turn in the fire to salmon with apricot orange flashes.  |
| After the body of teapot dries a bit I make hollow place in area, where sieve is going to be. From my experiences it helps to keep holes in sieve clean and they don’t clog so easy. |
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| I like this stage of the process. If the clay is right (leather hard) and everything is prepared there is time for creativity… |
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I usually make this kind of “tongue” on the top of the spout. If it is made right, the tea will not drop…
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Sometime I am not sure about the handle until this moment. Is it going to be “kyusu”, reed handle or ordinary back handle? The back one in this case…
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The lid is very important for final design and impressions from the teapot.
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Now I will let it dry. I will make final finishing before bisque firing - neaten the surface, sieve inside, lid, spout…and then the pot will wait for the fire and maybe tea...
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