Finished Teapot

Rules for the Execution and Glazing

First throw two bowls on the wheel. The bowls should be as identical as you can make them; make sure they are approximately the same size, have the same thickness, and the diameter is the same. Each bowl should be about the size of your two hands cupped together.

Trim the bowls so they are the still durable but are less heavy. You can create a foot for the bottom and carve a hole in the top.

The two bowls must be adhered to each other. This can be done using a fork, or similar scoring tool, and slip as well as pressure.

Now you must pull the handle. Use a bucket full of warm water and a rectangular shaped piece of clay the size of two fists.

You hold the wet clay making it into a thinner piece by closing your index finger and thumb together. Apply pressure and stretch the clay.

Shape the handle and place it on a surface perpendicular to the floor so that it can partially dry in the form you want it.

Attach it to the container you have created so far by scoring, slipping, and applying pressure.
Once the handle is attached to the container you can throw the spout. The spout should be a cylinder that is hollow on the inside and gets bigger as it goes down. Add a slanted lip so that it will be easier to pour.
Using a tool make holes in their container where the spout will connect. Cut the spout at an angle so that the spout hole points at 10 o'clock. Score, slip, and add pressure.

Back on the wheel you will make a lid. To make a lid, center and then put your thumb into the center of the clay. Use a needle and put pressure halfway in between the hole you created and the edge. Use a wooden tool to make this deeper. Then flatten out the clay from half way to the edge. Now apply pressure underneath this edge. You may have to cut the top of the container again to make sure that the whole is big enough for the lid. Make sure the lid top has excess room because the clay will shrink.

Extra utensils can be created.

High fire.

To glaze use wax on an inch and a half of the bottom of the teapot and on the bottom of the lid. Then a fan brush can be used. Paint two layers of the Blue Rutile glaze. Use the other glaze, I choose Lustrous Jade, for one layer two thirds of the way from the top down.

Fire on cone 5-6.

Moorish Teapots

Japanese Teapots

Art History: Moorish Teapots

The Moors were Muslim people of Berber and Arab descent that invaded Spain. The Moorish teapots were made in the 8^th century; before and during the beginning of the renaissance.  Typically they were earthenware covered with glaze made of tin ashes. Moorish teapots were also made from metal: brass, bronze, and copper.  The technique used to create this pottery is called Hispano-Moresque .The Moorish teapots were influenced by Ming pottery (1368-1644). 

Moorish teapots are typically elongated; they have long spouts, handles, and necks while their bodies are short and round. In 1879, The New York Times referred to Moorish the tea collection as consisting “of a bright brass tray, elaborately chased, whereon are placed tiny glass tumblers and a small metal pear-shaped tea-pot, in which is put half a handful of Hyson, with sufficient loaf sugar and boiling water…”