Carved Clothesline Teapot

Materials:

porcelain clay
potter's wheel
banding wheel
throwing tools - ribs, cutting wire, knives, loop tools and pin tool
clay hole punch
rolling pin
squeeze bottle
black terra sigillata
cone 10 glaze
electric bisque kiln
gas salt kiln
vinegar
wet sponge
container of water
printer's brayer
slip
squeeze bottle
2 strips of wood
wire brush
paintbrush
wax resist
salt
scale

1. Start with a three pound piece of porcelain clay(weighed on a scale to obtain the precise size). Center the clay on the wheel and form the body of the teapot, pulling up the walls with your hands, ribs and a wet sponge (figure A). Release the clay from the wheel head with a wire tool. Bend the walls slightly creating an oval shape with your hands (figure B). Set the body aside to dry to a leather hard stage.

2. Center another piece of clay on the wheel to form a spout with your hands, ribs and a wet sponge. Release it from the wheel with a wire tool. Let it dry until it is leather hard. Place another piece of clay on the potter's wheel, center it and form the lid seat—a piece of clay used on top of the body of the pot to hold the lid in place. Let it dry until it is leather hard (figure C).

3. Place a slab of clay between two wooden strips of the same size and roll a uniform slab of clay for the shoulder and lid of teapot using a rolling pin. Let it dry until it is leather hard (figure D).

4. Place the body of the pot on a banding wheel. Place the slab of clay on top of the body of the pot and slump it slightly down into the pot. Cut the slab using a fettling knife around the top edge of the teapot to make the shoulder (figure E). Score and slip the rim of the body and attach the shoulder to the body of the pot using a rubber printer's brayer to smooth the seam.

5. Poke holes in the body of the pot (where the spout will be joined) with a clay hole punch (figure F). Attach the spout to the teapot body by scoring and adding slip. Smooth the seam edges (figure G).

6. To pull a handle, make a carrot shape out of a small piece of clay and attach it to the teapot using a serrated rib and vinegar. Wet your hand with water and begin to stretch the clay or pull the clay forming a handle for the teapot (figure H).

7. Attach the lid seat to the top of the teapot where the lid will fit. Cut a hole the same size as the lid seat (figure I).

8. Form the lid from a bit of the excess clay. Add a knob from a coil of clay (figure J). Add dots of slip from a squeeze bottle around the top of the teapot (figure K). Let it dry until the bone-dry stage.

9. Brush a terra sigillata coating onto the whole pot using a soft brush (figure L).

10. Carve the clothesline motif with small loop tools and a pin tool (figure M).

11. Bisque-fire in electric kiln to cone 6.

12. Apply wax resist to the areas around the shoulder of the pot, lid seat, spout and handle. Let dry and apply colored cone 10 glaze to the shoulder of the teapot.

13. Load a large gas salt kiln and fire to 2450-degrees F. Add salt to the kiln, which glazes the pot.

14. Let the carved clothesline teapot cool for three days and remove it from the kiln.

Website: www.karennewgardpottery.com