Have any of you tea enthusiasts ever tried making your own ceramic tea
pot? I was just watching these videos on it and it almost makes me
think I could do it!

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...mic-teapot.htm

What do you think?

On Aug 1, 2:53 pm, Al > wrote:
> Have any of you tea enthusiasts ever tried making your own ceramic tea
> pot? I was just watching these videos on it and it almost makes me
> think I could do it!
>
> http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...mic-teapot.htm
>
> What do you think?

I've thought of buying some zisha clay and making an attempt but I'm
quite sure I'd just have an expensive Yixing ashtray in the end.
Pottery/ceramics is one of those skills that looks effortless in
expert hands but is impossible to 99% of everyone else. There's no
real middle ground and tons of learning and failure to even begin to
get good. There is no pottery or glass blowing in my future.

- Dominic

Yeah, I've spent some time doing ceramics here and there and it is WAY
harder than they make it look. I have a video of some guy handbuilding
(i.e., not throwing on a wheel) some little pot and he makes it look
like something you could do while watching reruns on tv, but no, it is
not easy at all to make anything of quality. Even making something of
low quality would take a significant amount of practice, most likely.
But don't take my word for it, go take a class. Who knows, maybe you
are a clay genius!

cha bing

On Aug 2, 2:53*am, Al > wrote:
> Have any of you tea enthusiasts ever tried making your own ceramic tea
> pot? I was just watching these videos on it and it almost makes me
> think I could do it!
>
> http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...mic-teapot.htm
>
> What do you think?

That's something I always wanted to try - and I might even attempt
this week. I have clay that I have gathered myself, which is cleaned
ready to use right now. Something like teapots are kind of complicated
to make though. There are many parts that need to be made and attached
together. Something like tea cups or bowls might be a much easier
first-try to do.

On Aug 1, 10:13 pm, niisonge > wrote:
> Something like tea cups or bowls might be a much easier
> first-try to do.

I always thought of trying to make a Japanese tea bowl because most of
them look like my failed middle school attempts at making regular
bowls and cups.

- Dominic

On Aug 2, 12:14*am, "Dominic T." > wrote:
> Japanese tea bowl ... most of them look like my failed middle school attempts at making regular bowls and cups.
>
> - Dominic

+1

hehehehehhehehhe

When I look back on it I wished I would have bought the teapots from
pottery makers on my travels. Oddly I never saw one for tourist sale
made by Indian tribes of the SouthWest. I was in the Black Hills of
SD two years ago and saw a teapot and cup sets in a window I could
tell was superb. It was Sunday and closed and I was leaving the next
day. Normally a potter gets about $100 for a pot.

Jim

Dominic T. wrote:
> On Aug 1, 10:13 pm, niisonge > wrote:
> > Something like tea cups or bowls might be a much easier
> > first-try to do.
>
> I always thought of trying to make a Japanese tea bowl because most of
> them look like my failed middle school attempts at making regular
> bowls and cups.
>
> - Dominic

Al wrote:
> Have any of you tea enthusiasts ever tried making your own ceramic tea
> pot? I was just watching these videos on it and it almost makes me
> think I could do it!
>
> http://www.expertvillage.com/video-s...mic-teapot.htm
>
> What do you think?

I have thought about it, I don't have access to a wheel or a kiln or I'd
work on it for sure. I do agree with the person who said tea bowls or
cups would be a better place to start though. Handbuilding for me has
always had...less than desirable results, lol. I've bought teapots from
local potters before, while I use some of them, some of them are just
too important to chance it. Not expensive just dear to me.

I love doing pottery, it reminds me of kneading bread, both soothing and
physical and somewhat alchemical all at once. I wish I had space to do
it again. Clay is a messy hobby for an apartment.

Melinda

I made it back to Canada, got out my clay, and re-hydrated it. It's
ready to work on now. So maybe tomorrow I will give it a try. So far,
I haven't done anything yet. I really don't know what I'm doing
anyway, hahaha. BTW, you don't need a potter's wheel to build a
teapot. You can hand build one - using various techniques. That's what
I'm going to attempt to do. Let's see how it turns out. But before
that I guess I have to make some clay-working tools first.

On Aug 14, 4:33*pm, niisonge > wrote:
> I made it back to Canada, got out my clay, and re-hydrated it. It's
> ready to work on now. So maybe tomorrow I will give it a try. So far,
> I haven't done anything yet. I really don't know what I'm doing
> anyway, hahaha. BTW, you don't need a potter's wheel to build a
> teapot. You can hand build one - using various techniques. That's what
> I'm going to attempt to do. Let's see how it turns out. But before
> that I guess I have to make some clay-working tools first.

My current path with throwing clay: bowls-->cups-->vases-->lidded
jars-->teapots
bowls: learn the basics of centering, drilling, pulling, shaping,
trimming, and start practicing attaching lugs/handles
cups: learn how to throw cylinders
vases: learn how to alter cylinders and to collar
lidded jars: learn how to make and fit lids, flanges
teapots: if you know how to make a lidded jar and handles, all you
have to learn now is the spout.

I've got bowls down, and I can make some cup shapes better than other.
I've thrown a few vases that I made some loose-fitting lids for, but i
still need to work on my cylinders before I try to collar more jars.

Handbuilding I haven't even started yet, but I found an awesome local
supplier of some red sculpture clay that looks remarkably like hong ni
grogged with duan ni...