First week of our second to last module for the year and we are once again very fortunate to be working with Peter Collis. Having returned to our shores from LA with his Hollywood actress wife Julie (bloody Covid 19 again), Peter has kindly agreed to help us further develop our throwing skills. Over the next 5 weeks we will be expected to conduct on-going research into TEA-POTS, giving consideration to the tea-pot tradition and cultural issues, while exploring some interesting and different approaches to “The Tea-Pot”.
Peter began our first session with a demonstration on throwing three tea-pot bodies with different lid configurations, the lids that might work best for each of the three pots, and three different spout designs that could be used to bring form and function to each of the tea-pots. The images below show Peter at work.
The outcome of this module is to produce FUNCTIONAL tea-pots, and as such their construction will require the development of technical skills and consideration of the design issues of the overall pieces. The skills required to be able to throw the lids and spouts for your tea-pot body start with the same fundamental need to centre the clay. These smaller components can be thrown ‘off the hump’, so coning on the clay will help to bring only the clay needed for each piece to your hands. Below Peter demonstrates the art of throwing one of three lids he made today, showing how callipers are used to check that the diameter of the lid corresponds with that of the tea-pot gallery.
Below are examples of three differing tea-pot body shapes, lids and spouts, including some cross-section shots to give a better idea of how the lids are designed to fit each of the three shapes. The ‘wiggly willy’ spout shown in the second image shows how you can manipulate the shape of a spout, without squashing it closed, if you firstly trap air inside it before changing its shape. Peter also spoke to us about how lids can also benefit from a little more clay to form the part that you insert into the top of the tea-pot, as this extra weight helps to keep the lid in place when you are pouring your cup of tea.
Having recently spent time practicing the throwing of cylindrical forms for my Kauri tree pieces, I was able to throw a set of three tea-pot bodies, their spouts and lids during the first week. Unfortunately, as I had left the lids on the pots while they were still wet, when it came time to seperate them, this did prove harder than anticipated. While a fairly forceful tap did eventually work, the resulting cracking has meant that only one of the three remains intact. Allowing each component to dry a little more before setting the lids in place to dry as one, will help with this problem. The thickness of the walls will also need to reduce to help lighten the pots, which at present are a little heavier than ideal. The three tea-pots below.
Week two and Peter Collis arrives at The Barn, having successfully navigated his way from Birkenhead to Waiheke Island. This week he has become only one of many many more commuters now using the ferry services to get into the city due to the reduced capacity on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. After a well deserved coffee (and a piece Terry’s delicious cake, still warm from the oven) Peter provided us with a demonstration of how we might throw both a conical shaped body and a round one. Trapping the air inside each of these two forms then allows for more alteration to the body shape. Forming a lid from the conical body at the time of throwing was also a neat trick, and ensured that the fit between the two pieces was almost perfect. Only a little trimming at leather hardness would be needed. A couple of the tips Peter shared with us concerning the throwing of this conical form was to pull up towards the centre, and that leaning your body away from the centre helps you to achieve this. Also, to help bring the form in as it grows in height, the idea is to push in and down on the rim, steadying/re-centering/thickening the top section, so that you can then continue to pull it up further without the centrifugal force taking over and continuing to widen the rim.
Closing up 
Conical form 
Creating the lid 
The round tea-pot shape was achieved by firstly pulling into the centre of the wheel from the very first pull. On the second pull, the formula to apply is to pull out the lower third of the pot, then into the centre again with the remaining two thirds. The hand/finger position for the first third is outside lower than the inside, followed by rolling the outside higher than the inside to complete the upper two thirds pull. This is repeated until you are able to press in and down on the rim enough to bring this together, once again trapping air inside the pot, allowing further shaping of the form with a rib or kidney tool.
Thickness, trimming and foot ring suggestions.
Week three already and I have managed to bring together the body, spout, lid and pulled handles for a set of three cylindrical tea-pots. As they look more like coffee pots to me, I have decorated them with the Chinese tea (Chá) symbol.
Today was one of those ‘light-bulb moment’ days. Peter gave us another demonstration of how to ‘alter’ a thrown cylindrical form (walls only, no base required). Gone are my thoughts that wheel thrown objects must essentially be round (bowl; cup; plate), now replaced with what must be the endless possibilities to alter the thrown form into something ‘other’. The images below are a small example of Peter at work.
With these forms in mind, I set about throwing cylindrical walls and making alterations by squashing the sides to form more of an oval shape, removing sections of the clay walls, re-joining these and adding a base to the work.
After a hilarious demonstration on how to pull a handle, and a few failed attempts, I did manage to form a number of clay ribbons that I could cut to size and attach to the side of the tea-pot bodies. Water is the key to ensuring the ‘pull’ is smooth and even and not breaking off from the clay block. The other piece of advice that Peter gave me this week, after watching my attempts at throwing a longer, thinner spout, was to increase the speed of the wheel when collaring the cylinder to reduce the diameter and increase the height. Although my instinct is to slow down when working with a form that feels a little precarious, speeding up did in fact help achieve a thinner, longer spout.
After a successful bisque firing and a week of R&R, the final class with Peter focussed our attention on glazing and colour. Rather than continuing with the use of oxides, today we looked at introducing colour with the use of stains. Stains do not contribute to the melt of a glaze due to the fact that when they are manufactured, the oxides used to produce a colour lose their oxygen molecule and become calcined. When they added to a base glaze, they are simply suspended within the recipe. Stains essentially do not react within a glaze either and the wet colour of the stain is close to the colour that will result from a glaze firing. Stains can be introduced at most stages of the work, either added to the clay prior to construction, applied to greenware within a slip, applied within a base glaze on bisque ware and applied over the top of base glazed bisque ware form. Certainly need to set time aside when starting out on a glazing journey.
Thanks again to the generosity of Penny Ericson, we were able to have a go at spraying glazes using a small compressor and spray gun unit that Penny was happy to loan us. Peter gave us a demonstration of the spray gun and how each of the three adjustment options affects the spray (only water in the reservoir for this). The knob at the base of the gun controls the volume of air that is introduced, the knob closest to you controls the volume of glaze that enters the flow, the knob on the side controls the spread of the glaze from point to wider pattern, with a final control at the front of the gun providing the option of direction of application, either horizontally or vertically. Practicing with water at first allows you to gain a better understanding of why/when you might want to make adjustments, before attacking your work with actual glaze.
Having already made up larger quantities of a base Abbotts Clear glaze and Peter’s Base Matte Glaze, Christine and I spent the first couple of hours creating a white with the addition of 10% Zirconium to Peter’s Matte recipe, and adding coloured stains to both Peter’s and the Abbots clear, in a 10% stain/90% glaze ratio. We the applied this in single and double coat layers to test tiles of there differing clay types to help inform us before glazing all of the tea-pots we have made during this module. Better to dislike one or two, rather than the entire set, should the colour not turn out quite as expected. A couple of pots ready for the firing, sea-green sprayed over white, and my Kauri tree with a base of manganese/cobalt/iron oxide and sprayed sea-green glaze. Watch this space.
The first colour has been applied to this series of tea-pots using a black slip that I have wiped back to hopefully enhance the textured surface. The plan is to fire this to 1180C and then apply a lead-basilicate glaze on top, firing to a lower temp of 1060C.
CRITIQUE
Brief for this module met, with a series of tea-pots constructed, and one or two of those that actually pour (I know a dribble may not qualify as a pour, but perhaps a weak stream might?).
Technique: A range of body forms thrown and altered, including round, cylindrical and conical. Walls are uniform although still a little too thick resulting in a pot that is too heavy. Spouts have been thrown and joined with varying degrees of success. The thickness of the join has reduced the number of holes possible and this has affected the pour. Incorporating a Neal Grant sieve component might be a good next step.
Timing continues to be a fundamental consideration. Component parts ideally should be thrown/made at the same time to ensure that they are wet enough to join and sufficiently dry to remain structurally sound.
The teapots of New Zealand artist Chris Weaver combine thrown and altered forms with beautifully crafted rimu handles. Salt-fumed surfaces.
Baber Ceramics 