Gary's Third Pottery Blog

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Gary's third pottery blog

WRITE TO ME! garyrith@yahoo.com Come see me! Open studio HERE! November 25-26 (11-4 each day); Aurora Art and Design, daily until 12/24; Cooperstown Art Assoc. daily until 12/24; Ellis Hollow Community Fair, 12/10; December 10, Little Red Wagon at the Space at Greenstar. All material on this blog unless stated otherwise is copyright Gary Edward Rith 2016

Thursday, June 17, 2010

back to the yellow bowl and the TEAPOT CONUNDRUM


Like I say yesterday, Susan is asking about yellow bowls on the big side, and you know, I gotta make some, and here is one finished. There are 2, each different, both whacked and whatnot.

OK, so Tony is over last week, having some tea for teatime. Tony is the real deal: Englishman, went to Cambridge and one of those ancient and drafty prep schools. Your typical TEA-TYPE. I ask what tea he wants, show him the selection and pull out my favorite 2 teapots. I make MY tea, and then I make HIS tea.

As a potter who makes a lot of teapots, you have to watch how people use them.
Frankly, people can be idiots when they use teapots. You assume they will HOLD THE LID when pouring, so it does not fall off. Some teapots have a locking lid or whatever, and there are some ways to make lids that don't easily fall when pouring, but doesn't everybody hold the lid????

Make no assumptions in Life: so, back to Tony, our real Englishman, smart, sweet natured, has the accent. He grabs a scone and lifts my favorite teapot to pour and as he does the pour one handed, I quick reach across the table to catch the lid falling off, before the wee elephant gets smashed to bits.
So much for sweet natured English tea types, even those with doctorates from Cambridge.
The potter has to do better.
So, I puzzled out how best to make a locking lid. You have to have this inset gallery, then cut notches and then add tabs to the lid. You have seen it on factory made teapots, and now I am gonna do it sometimes meself.




9 comments:

Lori Buff said...

Brilliant. Nice bowl too.

Busy Bee Suz said...

:0 College educations can't cover everything Gary!!!
Love the big bowl.

Jill Brown said...

I <3 the locking lid!

Unknown said...

Not a bad idea! The ONE teapot I made did not have a locking lid... I hope it doesn't fall off!

Reverend Awesome said...

Gary=The Most Smartest!

Unknown said...

Ooo I like your locking lid! I always hold the lid, had too many fall off! ha!

Barbara Martin said...

Awesome looking pot. I love the shape and the wee beastie on the lid. Do you make large teapots, too?

Liz said...

that's frakking brilliant! I'm so gonna take that schtick for my own purposes.....

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios said...

I never really hold the lid of my teapots because I put a locking device on them and know they will not fall off. For some reason I assumed everyone included locks on their teapot lids. Shows what I know. Gary, I guess you just have more faith in the public to treat their teapots kindly...well, until now anyway.

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I am a full-time studio potter, sculptor, and dog walker, married to superhawt Missus Tastycake.