kswan

You will also want to be sure that your base glaze doesn't have zinc in it if you plan to use the Chrome Tin Violet. Zinc makes chrome turn brown. 
 

Can I be a functional fine artist? Actually, isn't that what the decorative arts are? I think that's me, as I like to make functional work but with a hand painted surface. When people ask me, I've been saying "ceramic artist" too, because I handbuild many pieces. I associate a potter with a wheel even though I know that's not strictly the case.

Two trivial points.
They sell water-repellent treatments for windscreens. I don't expect they are food safe, but they might give you an idea how useful a really water repellent surface would be on an experimental spout.
Not too certain about this, but epoxy may have a lowish surface tension.  IIRC people have mentioned food-safe epoxy in other postings.
Typical values of surface energy for materials and adhesives
https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/faq-what-are-the-typical-values-of-surface-energy-for-materials-and-adhesives
May be true
Food Safe Epoxy – Helpful Guide about Food Grade Epoxy
https://resin-expert.com/en/guide/food-safe-epoxy
PS I expect that the matt surfaces of super-hydrophobic substances would get clogged over time (BTW I live in a very hard-water area). 
How to Prevent Teapots from Dripping
https://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Prevent-Teapots-from-Dripping-125869.shtml

 

A very very thin almost not there swipe of clear silicone works too. But you can feel it if you touch it so for me that's a no go too.

Can I be a functional fine artist? Actually, isn't that what the decorative arts are? I think that's me, as I like to make functional work but with a hand painted surface. When people ask me, I've been saying "ceramic artist" too, because I handbuild many pieces. I associate a potter with a wheel even though I know that's not strictly the case.

Can I be a functional fine artist? Actually, isn't that what the decorative arts are? I think that's me, as I like to make functional work but with a hand painted surface. When people ask me, I've been saying "ceramic artist" too, because I handbuild many pieces. I associate a potter with a wheel even though I know that's not strictly the case.

Ceramic stains are basically colouring oxides that have been fritted into a safer form for the potter to use and widen the range of colours available. If you have a well balanced stable base glaze then there is a good chance the glaze coloured with stains will be stable if the glaze is well melted and the amount of stain used is within reasonable amounts. Having plenty of silica and alumina in the base glaze, not overloading the boron and firing to maturity all help in creating a durable base glaze. BTW if you are going for a celadon like look you probably won't need 3%. 
Robins Egg Blue and Vanadium Yellow both contain vanadium which is quite toxic in the raw form so using a stain to supply it is by far the safer route. If your base glaze doesn't leach with base and acid testing then it's probably okay but the only way to know for sure would be to get it lab tested. I don't know of many people who actually do this. 

@Kelly in AK, distinction between what is craft versus art wouldn't be a contentious subject at all would it?  It seems the word "craft" is used very commonly and freely whereas "craftmanship" has a higher level of skill implied in the learning of the particular craft it is used in conjunction with. I've noticed in the last 10 years or so an increase in the number of people who work with clay are calling themselves ceramic artists vs potters or ceramicists. Who determines if the work is art or fine art or a craft?

I make functional pots, but very much consider them pieces of art. Using a handmade pot can be an aesthetic experience. Interactive, immersive art, if you will. I appreciate sculptural ceramic art as well as decorative pottery, or "pots about pots." Part of that comes from knowing the process and seeing people create marvelous work within the technical limits of what clay can do. I consider function an additional set of limits I choose to work within. I believe the objects I make are more than beautiful things, they help people lead a more beautiful life.

It has been close to a decade since I bought any commercial clay. Years ago, I put the same crystalline glaze on five different commercial porcelain bodies, and got five different results. That single incident sparked my curiosity about clay formulation; which turned into an obsession for awhile. I do crystalline tile almost exclusively; and every commercial porcelain body I tried- warped. From that, I developed a crystalline body that actually promotes crystalline growth; instead of hindering it. I developed a porcelain tile body that I roll out on 2 x4 x 1/2" luan, and let it sit until it pops off on its own. My days of flipping, weighting, and spending hours trying to prevent warping are long over. Few years back I developed an extensive line of colored porcelain: which I use from time to time. Local supplier wanted me to distribute it; but not really had the time to get that involved. A shoulder injury from a few years back has also hindered that endeavor.
My bigger interest of late has been collecting and processing locally sourced clay. It holds my interest; breaking it down and figuring out how to make it a workable body. I have samples sent to me from across the US, and on rare occasion- other countries. Rather fascinating to see the results from iron disulfide, hematite, and magnetite samples. Still toying with the idea of bringing back a semi-load of hematite clay from NE Oklahoma- best looking cone 6 results I have ever seen. I have been contacted by potters across the globe for in depth discussions on how to fix their naturally sourced clay issues. The most complicated puzzle was sub-tropical laterite from India; took awhile to find the solution. (43% total iron/alumina content). Collecting and processing natural clay is more popular than most realize; but it is not a topic that is widely discussed here.
A few months back another interest has taken center stage in my life: so clay may have to take a back seat for awhile.
Nerd -- the pic below is Oklahoma hematite.

How about a video instead? I have an upcoming show where they filmed a Artist Talk with me via Zoom. The point was to give show attendees a look inside my studio:
https://www.pmacraftshow.org/artist-talk/2022/mea-rhee

@Min I've seen a video of someone using one of those and never knew what it was! It's a great idea. 
I tried to do something similar to your squished bucket, but with a gardening tote. It's flexible and you can put cinder blocks or something on two sides to keep it in an oval shape. The only problem is that the bottom stays rounded, and also the one I got wasn't tall enough for my plates. Sigh. So now I'm using them for mixing up paper clay, then I can lift and pour it, making it like a funnel by holding the two handles together. 
I also got some (very cheap) woodworking tools that are curved to scrape out rounded or angled chunks of wood. (I don't know the term for that.) I use them to cut tight curves that my Exacto knife would not make. 

@Min I've seen a video of someone using one of those and never knew what it was! It's a great idea. 
I tried to do something similar to your squished bucket, but with a gardening tote. It's flexible and you can put cinder blocks or something on two sides to keep it in an oval shape. The only problem is that the bottom stays rounded, and also the one I got wasn't tall enough for my plates. Sigh. So now I'm using them for mixing up paper clay, then I can lift and pour it, making it like a funnel by holding the two handles together. 
I also got some (very cheap) woodworking tools that are curved to scrape out rounded or angled chunks of wood. (I don't know the term for that.) I use them to cut tight curves that my Exacto knife would not make. 

I would suggest contacting New Mexico Clay and asking them about their micaceous clay, let them know you are looking into slip casting and if they have any info or experience with this as not all clays cast well. If they don't know I would ask if you could purchase some of their dry lowfire mica clay and start testing it. Can't speak to the paperclay addition as I haven't cast with it but I have read articles of people using fibres in the slip, my hunch is you wouldn't need it.
Sumi Von Dassow's book "The Potters Kitchen" would be a good resource for shapes, process etc.
How many pots are you talking about here, selling them commercially or just enough for your own use?
I'ld also make sure you have a really good insurance policy if these will be sold.

I get a lot of satisfaction from making my own tools. I have a lot of things that started as something else. The steel strip in wiper blades has a special place in my heart.
One thing I couldn’t improve on right out of the box was the brush that fits in a drill+sieve combo. I saw this in one of John Britt’s videos and it’s brilliant. The brush was easy to find online and very inexpensive. 
 I use this when I’m processing raw clay and have to sieve around  25 gallons of slip multiple times to get the sand and sticks out of it.

Glazing pots today, couple pictures of things I use that make it easier for dipping and cleaning up plates or other flat(ish) pots.
First one is a tool for lifting plates out of a steamer, I use it for dipping flat things in glaze, doesn't leave any marks on the topside of the pots to clean up. 3 small contact points underneath, my glazes are fairly forgiving so I don't bother wiping them out. It's also good for when you only have a bit of glaze left in the bucket since you dip horizontally and not vertically. The one I have opens to about 12".
Other thing I use is a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut off with a jigsaw then squeezed into an oval for pots that are too wide for the buckets or bowls. I line it with 2 kitchen bin bags and tape the outside. First time you use it the air between the bucket walls and the bags will puff inwards so you need to make a tiny incision in the plastic bags near the top then the glaze will push the air out as you fill it up. I put it in a rectangular bin while using it just in case it springs a leak.
    

I bought the plate lifter from Aliexpress but they are on the river in South America too and I'm sure lots of other places too. Just google steamer plate lifter. If you have a lot of 4 sided pots or square tiles then maybe the second one in that link might work better?
If you make a squishy bucket what I did was to heat up the two areas of the bucket (that would become the end points) with the heat gun to get it to squishable, one end at a time then put a board across it and some weights on top to hold it squashed while it cooled down. This was after I cut the bottom off.

I took the clay and glaze chemistry classes from Phil Bernberg at Hood College before he retired. Those were some of the best ceramics classes I ever took. He was helpful, patient, and explained the chemistry at a level that was both thorough and easy to understand. He drew diagrams and showed physical examples of everything. 

My wheel was first. I wanted to practice more than the community studio had open studio hours. My instructor retired and then I bought her circa 1990 kiln a couple years later.  I started using the kiln to bisque, then carry my work to the gas kiln at the studio. Now I've bought myself 2 new kilns (one's a baby) with controllers, woo! I donated the old kiln to a community group, but I believe they just stuffed it in an outdoor shelter and never set it up. Sigh. 
I'm finding that the slab roller I bought to help ease strain on my back after an injury has gotten more use than the wheel these days. 
It seems like you've got to ease your way slowly into acquiring equipment for pottery, it's such a huge investment. 

I took the clay and glaze chemistry classes from Phil Bernberg at Hood College before he retired. Those were some of the best ceramics classes I ever took. He was helpful, patient, and explained the chemistry at a level that was both thorough and easy to understand. He drew diagrams and showed physical examples of everything. 

My wheel was first. I wanted to practice more than the community studio had open studio hours. My instructor retired and then I bought her circa 1990 kiln a couple years later.  I started using the kiln to bisque, then carry my work to the gas kiln at the studio. Now I've bought myself 2 new kilns (one's a baby) with controllers, woo! I donated the old kiln to a community group, but I believe they just stuffed it in an outdoor shelter and never set it up. Sigh. 
I'm finding that the slab roller I bought to help ease strain on my back after an injury has gotten more use than the wheel these days. 
It seems like you've got to ease your way slowly into acquiring equipment for pottery, it's such a huge investment. 

This is the twelfth teapot*.
It pours well - solid dependable arc of fluid, which stops predictably and, and, no dribble along the bottom edge of the spout!
I'm also happy with: the overall feel; the shape/profile; boss lid that's heavy without being over heavy, stays in place through full pour-out, and fits well; the color.
I'd looked at many many teapots and searched for The Authority on dripless pouring in general, teapot spouts in particular.
Although there is a study on spiraling path of liquid flowing down a glass rod, uhm, didn't find that helpful - maybe there's something there.
There are many articles, forum posts, etc. that offer helpful suggestions, however, I didn't find anything truly definitive.
Features that may help:
  spout tip higher than (reasonable) fill line;
  lots of holes between the spout and pot body, so the liquid doesn't back up in the pot when pouring, and doesn't back up in the spout once pouring ends;
  the "sharp edge" at the pouring lip that so many mention;
  design such that the liquid prefers running back inside the spout over dribbling down the outside when pouring ends.
Ah, that last bit!
Good luck.
I hope to replicate my good fortune in future...
I'll post some detail pics later on.

From last Saturday's glaze fire.
Aardvark Buff clay, cone 5; exterior Rutile Green glaze, dipped; interior my low COE liner glaze, poured in, poured out;  chattermarks filled with Clear Blue glaze.
The tea cups are very close to same size; the camera I'm using distorts the image, especially away from center.
This is my last attempt before branching sideways into a spout test, making an array of test spouts that fit up to a test vessel, perhaps a soft rubber ball with spout and vent holes, press up against the spout to test, huh. I still might do that. No doubt others have done something similar already. ...the protocol for such is simmering
*The prototypes that poured reasonably in bisque were glazed and fired; none poured without dribbling, once glazed.
Several prototypes are still in bisque; as shelf space is tight, they'll likely see the bin, soon.

There are some really good videos by the  late Phil Berneburg, geologist and ceramics engineer, from Washington Street Studios. Berneburg covered many aspects of ceramics extremely well, among them Glaze Chemistry, might be a good place to start and the videos are free. First of the chemistry ones linked below. If you are interested in more topics go to the Washington Street Studios YouTube site to find them there. 
 
 

I'm taking some liberty with the "free" part.  The gift that I use is not "in" my studio, it "is" my studio. The gift was me making it to retirement and having enough coin to install the studio & everything in it, in the larger bedroom of my trailor, & the kiln, which is on the formally open back porch, which I was able to enclose with restaurant patio-grade vinyl, essential for New Hampshire winters. Beyond that, my studio has a fair amount of useful things attained by "curb shopping". One find that I love is a green wire shelving unit, close to 5'x3' w/5 shelves,  that I scored from a convenience store (OK, that one was actual dumpster diving). It holds an amazing quantity of tools etc., many of which I also scrounged from here & there. 
 

@Callie Beller Diesel Not sure if this is to your liking, but Robin Sloan's books were fantastic. I laughed so hard listening to "Sourdough" that I messed up my work on the wheel. He also wrote "Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore".  They are not a series though, but they're fun.