Eccentric Teapot

When starting this project I struggled coming up with ideas on what I wanted to do. I thought about making a duck or a strawberry, but I ended up loving the idea of making a mushroom teapot. I wanted to make a classic red top mushroom with a cream colored base. I wasn't too worried about making my teapot functional, but it ended up turning out functional and it is able to hold liquids if I want. 

To start this project I rolled a slab using the slab roller. I then wrapped newspaper around a cup to prevent the clay from sticking to the cup. I wrapped the clay around the cup in order to get a symmetrical form. I am really glad I used this method because it saved me a lot of time compared to if I were to attempt to make the form with just my hands. While I waited for the base of my teapot to dry a little bit, I made the handle and the spout. The handle and spout were very easy and quick to make. I pulled the handle using a lot of clay and water and I'm happy with the way it turned out. To make the spout I just cut a 3D oval shape and hollowed out the inside. I attached the handle and spout but the base of my teapot was a bit too dry and this caused my pot to crack a little bit around the spout when it was fired. However, the teapot is still functional and I'm not worried about the crack. When making the lid I used the pinch technique to make a rounded shape. When I got the shape I liked, I was able to maintain the form by putting it ontop of clay covered in plastic. This clay acted as a stand for my lid and allowed it to dry the way I wanted it to. When glazing my teapot I couldn't find a cream color I liked, so I ended up glazing the base white using C-10. For the lid, I used HF-165. 

Overall I am really proud of the way this teapot turned out. The only thing I would change is the weight of the lid. The lid is quite heavy compared to the rest of the teapot which makes it difficult to use. If I were to do this again I would use less clay so that the lid would be lighter.