Kelp Forest Undersea Upright Ring Teapot
Photo by Jon Barber
Before I begin working on a new teapot, I decide on a sculptural challenge that I want to tackle. Here I was playing with the size of the ring cross-section and the diameter of the inside opening of the ring. The companion piece to this “fat ring” teapot is the “skinny ring” of my “Jet Black Upright Ring Teapot.” I added a viny vegetation-like texture to the oval base and lid finial of this teapot, and glaze-fired it to cone 5. I was unsatisfied with the muted glaze colors of the “vines,” so I painted cone 06 bright red, green, blue, and yellow commercial glazes to the base and lid finial, and re-fired the teapot to cone 06. Re-firing at the lower temperature achieved the bold color contrasts I wanted, and also caused the cone 5 opaque white glaze on the body of the teapot to bubble and pit. This rough bubbly surface, along with the multi-colored viney additions, reminded me of the underwater kelp forest world of California Sea Lions I had seen on a recent PBS “Nature” TV program, so that is where I found the title, “Kelp Forest Undersea Upright Ring Teapot.”
13” Tall x 11” Wide x 4” Deep
Price: $3,200