Throwing a Teapot

I have posted quite a bit on assembling a teapot and some of the things that make a successful one, but today I am going to post a video of throwing the individual pieces for the teapot. Because of the constraints for a blog as far as uploads, I have broken the steps into 2 videos, Spout and Lid. Throwing the body is in the last part of the Lid video.

When throwing the spout a few reminders and caveats:

1.  A larger base or funnel will power the liquid through the spout.
2. The spout opening should funnel down to about the size of your little finger.
3. There should be a straight section of spout to even out the turbulence of the flow.
4. The end flair of the spout should not be very extreme.

Double cut leaving a pad at the base when removing from the wheel does two things:

1. It protects the base of the spout from warping when being removed from the wheel
2. It keeps the base of the spout from drying out too much while the spout dries making it easier to join to the teapot body.

 

Removing the lid by using a wooden rib, or a butter knife in this manner takes a little bit of practice, but is well worth the effort as it can save you a lot of time when throwing several lids or chalice/goblet cups etc off of the hump.

I take a bit of time forming the body of the pot as the extra lines and edges create interest in the breaking glaze. I do not like too narrow of a base on teapots as they can get tippy.

I hope that these videos will help some of you in throwing a teapot, and when looking for assembly look at some of my other posts.