Teapots

[Pres]

You want a wide opening where the spout attaches to the pot, to ensure that the spout completely fills with liquid. The total area of the strainer holes in the pot must be more than the area of the opening at the end of the spout. Otherwise it will not pour well. Also, the spout must taper and never widen out again, or it will suck air and glug as it pours. The top of the spout should be roughly even with the top of the pot.

 

 

Do you have one in blue?

 

Jim

 

Yeah they always want blue, sometimes purple!

[OffCenter]

You want a wide opening where the spout attaches to the pot, to ensure that the spout completely fills with liquid. The total area of the strainer holes in the pot must be more than the area of the opening at the end of the spout. Otherwise it will not pour well. Also, the spout must taper and never widen out again, or it will suck air and glug as it pours. The top of the spout should be roughly even with the top of the pot.

 

 

Do you have one in blue?

 

Jim

 

Yeah they always want blue, sometimes purple!

 

Sometimes they'll take ash: http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/index.php?app=gallery&module=images&section=viewimage&img=2554

 

Jim

[Pres]

You want a wide opening where the spout attaches to the pot, to ensure that the spout completely fills with liquid. The total area of the strainer holes in the pot must be more than the area of the opening at the end of the spout. Otherwise it will not pour well. Also, the spout must taper and never widen out again, or it will suck air and glug as it pours. The top of the spout should be roughly even with the top of the pot.

 

 

Do you have one in blue?

 

Jim

 

Yeah they always want blue, sometimes purple!

 

Sometimes they'll take ash: http://ceramicartsda...wimage&img=2554

 

Jim

 

Love them!

[Marcia Selsor]

I always made my students do the"teapot testt" in a critique.

Now that you have the teapot, see how it works. they are tough to finesse. You are off to a good start but critique it yourself. fill it with water, hold it by the handle. Pour water into a pot.

How does if feel? Is it balanced? Does it dribble?

Now make another better one. You can ' t stop at the first one...got to get going and getting better.

 

good job on the first one.

Years ago, one of my Montana students saw an early teapot of mine in SF and took a photo. She posted it in the classroom above the sink. She wrote beside it,

"Dear students, this is a carbon dated teapot by Marcia Selsor..." and something like "you too can improve"

It was a fairly bad teapot.

We all laughed about it. the pot came from a classmate who traded with me back in college days.

Marcia

[Pres]

I always made my students do the"teapot testt" in a critique.

Now that you have the teapot, see how it works. they are tough to finesse. You are off to a good start but critique it yourself. fill it with water, hold it by the handle. Pour water into a pot.

How does if feel? Is it balanced? Does it dribble?

Now make another better one. You can ' t stop at the first one...got to get going and getting better.

 

good job on the first one.

Years ago, one of my Montana students saw an early teapot of mine in SF and took a photo. She posted it in the classroom above the sink. She wrote beside it,

"Dear students, this is a carbon dated teapot by Marcia Selsor..." and something like "you too can improve"

It was a fairly bad teapot.

We all laughed about it. the pot came from a classmate who traded with me back in college days.

Marcia

 

I once had a man come down the lane at Penn State Arts Festival carrying a bucket full of water. He stopped at my booth and asked if he could try my teapots to see how they poured. I told him I had no problem with that, and let him do his thing right in the booth with others around. He told me he had been to many booths, but still didn't have what he was looking for. After trying out several teapots he bought 3, and was most happy with his purchases, but not nearly as happy as I-I had passed the test! I sold a heck of a lot of teapots that day!

[Marcia Selsor]

I always made my students do the"teapot testt" in a critique.

Now that you have the teapot, see how it works. they are tough to finesse. You are off to a good start but critique it yourself. fill it with water, hold it by the handle. Pour water into a pot.

How does if feel? Is it balanced? Does it dribble?

Now make another better one. You can ' t stop at the first one...got to get going and getting better.

 

good job on the first one.

Years ago, one of my Montana students saw an early teapot of mine in SF and took a photo. She posted it in the classroom above the sink. She wrote beside it,

"Dear students, this is a carbon dated teapot by Marcia Selsor..." and something like "you too can improve"

It was a fairly bad teapot.

We all laughed about it. the pot came from a classmate who traded with me back in college days.

Marcia

 

I once had a man come down the lane at Penn State Arts Festival carrying a bucket full of water. He stopped at my booth and asked if he could try my teapots to see how they poured. I told him I had no problem with that, and let him do his thing right in the booth with others around. He told me he had been to many booths, but still didn't have what he was looking for. After trying out several teapots he bought 3, and was most happy with his purchases, but not nearly as happy as I-I had passed the test! I sold a heck of a lot of teapots that day!

As they say "the proof is in the pudding!"

It isn't easy to get a teapot to function well. It takes a lot of thought. Nice story Pres.

marcia

[Pres]

I always made my students do the"teapot testt" in a critique.

Now that you have the teapot, see how it works. they are tough to finesse. You are off to a good start but critique it yourself. fill it with water, hold it by the handle. Pour water into a pot.

How does if feel? Is it balanced? Does it dribble?

Now make another better one. You can ' t stop at the first one...got to get going and getting better.

 

good job on the first one.

Years ago, one of my Montana students saw an early teapot of mine in SF and took a photo. She posted it in the classroom above the sink. She wrote beside it,

"Dear students, this is a carbon dated teapot by Marcia Selsor..." and something like "you too can improve"

It was a fairly bad teapot.

We all laughed about it. the pot came from a classmate who traded with me back in college days.

Marcia

 

I once had a man come down the lane at Penn State Arts Festival carrying a bucket full of water. He stopped at my booth and asked if he could try my teapots to see how they poured. I told him I had no problem with that, and let him do his thing right in the booth with others around. He told me he had been to many booths, but still didn't have what he was looking for. After trying out several teapots he bought 3, and was most happy with his purchases, but not nearly as happy as I-I had passed the test! I sold a heck of a lot of teapots that day!

As they say "the proof is in the pudding!"

It isn't easy to get a teapot to function well. It takes a lot of thought. Nice story Pres.

marcia

 

It certainly made my day long after the money was gone!

[TJR]

Ok- be gentile, this is my first teapot ever. My lid does not stay on tightly, it would fall off if you try to pour without holding it down which is a major flaw. I used coyote light green shino and it is a dark cone 5-6 clay body from A.R.T in racine wisconsin.

 

Hey,there;

A great first effort. The trick with teapots is that you want the spout to get smaller and smaller. When you restrict the flow like this, it pours. If you have a bulb, like yours, or if the spout opens up on the end, the tea will gurgle. Check out an example of what I am saying in my gallery page. I do not know how to make attachments, as I am a bit of a Ludite.Keep at it.

TJR.

 

Thanks for that! When I was making my teapot I was just looking at Google images to get inspiration, I did the "bulb" type spout because I saw a lot of them and thought they looked cool, but I guess I was looking at faulty pots LOL!! It would help if I look at work from respected potters to learn from!

 

I don't think you're going to find any respected potters here. Lark Publishing's "500 Teapots" is a start.

 

Jim

Thanks, buddie. We have to be careful or the blog will get taken off again.

TJR.

[Rebekah Krieger]

Ok- be gentile, this is my first teapot ever. My lid does not stay on tightly, it would fall off if you try to pour without holding it down which is a major flaw. I used coyote light green shino and it is a dark cone 5-6 clay body from A.R.T in racine wisconsin.

 

 

Hey,there;

A great first effort. The trick with teapots is that you want the spout to get smaller and smaller. When you restrict the flow like this, it pours. If you have a bulb, like yours, or if the spout opens up on the end, the tea will gurgle. Check out an example of what I am saying in my gallery page. I do not know how to make attachments, as I am a bit of a Ludite.Keep at it.

TJR.

 

 

Thanks for that! When I was making my teapot I was just looking at Google images to get inspiration, I did the "bulb" type spout because I saw a lot of them and thought they looked cool, but I guess I was looking at faulty pots LOL!! It would help if I look at work from respected potters to learn from!

 

 

I don't think you're going to find any respected potters here. Lark Publishing's "500 Teapots" is a start.

 

Jim

 

 

Sounds like throwing down the gauntlet there.

 

I have always considered the teapot the ultimate test of a functional potter. Most people get the first few parts right, the lid and the handle, but the spout befuddles many. I have read 10 page discussions on the correct proportions of teapots and the places where folks fail-interesting reading. All too often you will find the teapot with the spout that come out straight not allowing the pot to be filled completely because it starts to pour while liquid is going in. Or the teapot where liquid splatters out in a spray because not enough of a straight area was set up to compress the pour. We also see pots where not enough funnel was developed so the flow dribbles out of the pot. My favorite error is a spout so steep of an angle the pot nearly has to be turned upside down to pour! All of these can be corrected by careful observation, but it is easy to overlook things. This is one reason why I always throw 5 pots at a time then 10 spouts, and 8 lids. As I am not a perfect potter, I accomplish the task by mixing and matching. If I happen to have left over pieces when all pots are done, then I use them on the next batch. I love teapots so do them often.

 

 

 

Thank you for that! When I told myself that i was going to do a teapot I just googled wheel thrown teapot and looked at the images to try to study them. OTher than the book 500 teapots is there something I should read or is this something i need to experience?

 

 

 

[Rebekah Krieger]

I always made my students do the"teapot testt" in a critique.

Now that you have the teapot, see how it works. they are tough to finesse. You are off to a good start but critique it yourself. fill it with water, hold it by the handle. Pour water into a pot.

How does if feel? Is it balanced? Does it dribble?

Now make another better one. You can ' t stop at the first one...got to get going and getting better.

 

good job on the first one.

Years ago, one of my Montana students saw an early teapot of mine in SF and took a photo. She posted it in the classroom above the sink. She wrote beside it,

"Dear students, this is a carbon dated teapot by Marcia Selsor..." and something like "you too can improve"

It was a fairly bad teapot.

We all laughed about it. the pot came from a classmate who traded with me back in college days.

Marcia

 

 

YES- it's a rush to make it and see it all complete. I plan to make more and improve for sure!!

[Marcia Selsor]

Robin Hopper's Functional Pottery is an excellent guide as is Michael Cardew Pioneer Pottery . he talks about the torque twisting the spout. I usually cut my spouts flat, so you have to know which way the spout will twist when fired. Cardew discusses this.

Marcia

[neilestrick]

Robin Hopper's Functional Pottery is an excellent guide as is Michael Cardew Pioneer Pottery . he talks about the torque twisting the spout. I usually cut my spouts flat, so you have to know which way the spout will twist when fired. Cardew discusses this.

Marcia

 

 

You'll common hear that the spout untwists during firing, so an angled cut will not be aligned. But what actually happens is that the spout continues to twist in the direction it was torqued during throwing. It has to do with the way the clay particles are compressed and aligned during the throwing process. How much it will twist depends on your clay, firing temp, the shape of the spout, and the way you throw. Long, narrow spouts do it the most. The general rule of thumb/ good starting point is to cut the angle to 5 o'clock as you look into the spout.

[OffCenter]

Don't over-read and over-think it. There are just a few basics you need to remember which I think have all been covered redundantly here. The most important thing is to look at other teapots and make more teapots. One of the most enjoyable things about potting is making a pot that you really like a lot but keep making them and a week later look back at that pot and say, "What a piece of ######!" as you shatter it.

 

Jim