Can I say, without seeming self-centered, that my new teapots are beautiful?

Let me share.  And please believe that this is not an I’m-awesome post–this is an I-love-my-job and I’m-so-happy-to-be-doing-what-I-love post.  Also, I work alone and don’t often get to share how excited I am when something turns out well–so thanks for letting me!

Possibly the #1 improvement I’ve made in my technique is that I now thicken the handle attachments with a little extra clay.  (I do this on all handles, not just on teapots.)  This strengthens the joint physically and also visually, so you feel more secure when handling the pot, especially if it has hot water in it.  I’ve had many fewer surface cracks since making this improvement (note: I’ve never had a handle break as a result of a surface crack; they’re just ugly and embarrassing).

So anyway, here are a few raw porcelain teapots which will be glazed and fired in a couple weeks.  I’ve been playing with different ways of doing handles, although obviously I love the loop-handle (over-the-top) style.

The above is an example of my new applique technique–I’ll take pieces of textured clay and add them to smooth wheel-thrown surfaces.  I’m just in the experimental stages right now, but have had some nice results.  Depending on the glaze I use on this, the textured areas will blend in a little more.

This one I’m pretty excited about.  I’m not such a sculptor, but I love the sculptural element to the cut handle.

The word “vegetal” comes to mind.

Yay!  So excited to see these done.  Now I have to do the work of choosing glazes . . .

Here are a couple more of the first results of my new wave of teapots–these are the first two I used the applique technique on (In my head, I call these my “hybrid” teapots–with both wheel-thrown and handbuilt elements.  Dorky, yes.).  They’re both stoneware, and more earthy-looking than the above porcelain teapots will be.

This one pours well.  I tested it today.

I’m excited about the future.