A Spot of Tea

Just took this out of the kiln this morning--still naked clay--no glaze yet.
This baby is big. Fifteen inches tall; just under the lid on my shorty kiln.

Originally it had feet, but I had to take them off.

This is a new spout too. A bit more difficult to make, but I like it a lot. It's also hand formed, since I don't have a wheel here. Took much longer to make than a thrown one.

I worried that the handle might not make it, but it came through okay.
Several years ago, I cracked the code on how to make and dry these kinds of handles.

It's a secret not for sharing. It took a ton of blood, sweat and lots of smashed pots to get there.

The rest of the kiln contained lots of test tiles of terra cotta, B3 Brown and Hagi Porcelain. I made a tiny house of terra cotta, a small tumbler of the B3 Brown and a free-form vase of Hagi Porcelain.

The Hagi cracked on one end, but I'm going to test glaze it anyway. Very thin walls and a whole new handbuilt form for me and a radical departure from my previous work. The Terra cotta has a nice, interesting hand, but a bit sandy for me; the B3 Brown is lovely. Very responsive. I like it a lot. The Hagi is cranky, a bit short and completely different than the porcelain I've been using. But, oooh, what beauty when it is fired.