The first animal I sculpted, using a series of "anatomically correct" Roger Tory Peterson drawings from our bird guidebook, was done about 1992, an Atlantic Puffin perched on a closed-form box. A photo of this “Puffin Box” can be seen on the 3rd page of our November 1995 Ceramics Monthly article, “Teaching In The Studio,” available in the “Articles” section of this web site. I returned to Pacific Puffin sculpting in 1996, soon after I made my first Reassembled Ring Teapot, the “Keel-Billed Toucan Reassembled Ring Teapot.” I made a square-profile ring and cut it into eight arc sections, reassembling it into a V-shape, and glazing it with our matte blue glaze. I made four Pacific Puffin figures of various sizes and perched them on the Teapot lid, handle, spout and at the base of the” V.” The firing was filled with nervous anticipation, but the Teapot came out of the kiln very well.

Pacific Puffins roost and breed in the spring in colonies on islands off the west coast of North America, and spend the balance of the year on the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Their beaks are more brightly colored during spring mating season, and their distinctive “eye horns” stick up sharply during this time. The males gather fish from the sea and bring them in their beaks to the females incubating the eggs or guarding the nestlings in shallow tunnels dug into the sea cliffs. I tried to give a feeling for the steep cliff-side nesting colonies, with crowds of Puffins perching on every available rock and overhang, in this Teapot composition. I chose a matt blue-gold glaze for the Teapot body to imply the open ocean habitat of these handsome and hardy seabirds.

17” Tall x 13” Wide x 5” Deep
Cone 5 oxidation Firing
This Teapot was purchased for a private collection in Washington, D.C.