Another Teapot

I finished up another series of teapots today. I made two but I am not to happy with the other one so you only get to see this one. On this teapot I tried a new idea with the lid. I made a sort of hallow nob on it as opposed to the domed surface that I have used in the past. I think that a nob is necessary on these teapots because the handle makes the lids somewhat hard to take off and put on. I also made the handle fatter. I think that fat handles add a sense of comfort and security to the pot. I recently had someone say that they were afraid that the handle would break off of one of my teapots had they picked it up. This was somewhat of an eye opener to me so I am trying to solve that fear. I also played around with the spout a little attaching it wetter and at a higher angle. This allows me to integrate in more with the pot as opposed to it looking like an afterthought. This pot need to be cleaned up a little but I will do that when it is bone dry with a green scrubby pad. I have found that I have the most control doing it this way and it looks the least "fussy".

Let me know what you think.

Cone 6

I have talked a little bit about some of the cone 6 glazes I have been messing around with and finally got some finished pieces. The dark amber glaze is a glaze that we have had in the studio for a while. I like the glaze but it could be better. The off white matte is a glaze that I made from a recipe I got from Jeff Campana. I took the base recipe and tried some line blends with different colorants. The glaze I liked ended up being the base with 4% rutile added. I like the way the glazes turned out; however, I have since got my reduction kiln working and am starting to test glazes for cone 10. I think that the accessibility and ease of firing in an electric kiln is very attractive, but I don't think that it is what my pots want right now.

New Teapot

I trimmed and assembled this teapot today. I put the plaid pattern I've been working with on it and really like the way it turned out. I also tried a new spout that I think worked out OK. The biggest change in the spout is that it has that little ball shape at the base. This allows me to cut the bottom of the spout to get a better angle. I also made sure to make the handle plenty wide and generous in size as I have somewhat a phobia of thin weak handles. I also think I improved the shape of the pot by making the belly start lower to achieve more of a spherical form. All in all I really like the way it came out, tell me what you think!