This
triangles decorated teapot was from a class that I taught some while back, the
goal was simple, throw a closed cylinder in under five pounds of terra cotta
and then cut it apart to build a teapot. Using about four pounds of clay, I
threw a mostly straight sided closed form with a slightly domed top and enough
clay in the base to tool a shallow foot and once it had set up, I trimmed out
an angled foot around the piece. Now comes the tricky part, I cut the closed
form with the trimmed foot into three pieces, the center piece being about 25%
of the total diameter and then reassembled the two end pieces together and cut
the foot to accentuate the form. I rethrew an opening to accept a lid which I
then threw to fit the teapot, threw and attached a spout and last but not least
added a handled. When I came up with the idea I hadn't really worked out the
decoration but I had some black and white slip with me so this is what I ended
up with. After the class, I brought the pot home and glazed it up in a copper
glaze that I had made up for some students and this was the finished product
which I have sitting up on a shelf, usually collecting dust as a reminder of
that exercise, did I mention it pours rather nicely?
I should mention
that there was an incredible array of ideas that came from the group in the
class, from machine age, architectural, highly organic to outright fantastical.
I think it is a great way to keep on my toes by coming up with odd challenges including
tough time limits and the worst that can happen is that you wedge it up or
slake and reclaim the clay at the end of the day.
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