How to Make a Clay Teapot
History says the clay teapot may be patterned after Islamic coffee pots or Chinese wine vessels made in bronze and other metals in the mid-1600s. The earliest known clay teapot is dated to 1513. The English Earl of Cadogan is the first Englishman to have owned a Chinese globular shaped wine vessel. This foreshadowed the future design of teapots. Since tea was extremely expensive, drinking it was an upper class privilege.
Instructions
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Create the teapot by throwing a large lump of wet clay on the potting wheel. Gently hold the clay lump between your hands as the wheel turns, creating the shape and size of teapot desired. Raise or lower the design by raising or lowering the hands.
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2
Remove the wet teapot from the wheel and set aside to dry overnight. Once it's hard and damp to the touch, trim the bottom of the pot by inverting it into a clay cushioned collar. Smooth the foot to enhance its appearance by using a metal rib and working from the inside out to remove excess clay. Measure the pot's inside diameter with calipers to ascertain the size of lid required.
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3
Wedge about ½ lb. of clay and place it on the wheel, slightly off centering the clay before shaping it into a flat, thick disk. Cut the lid off by pulling a thin wire through the damp clay. When the lid is drier, carve excess clay off the underside of the lid. Puncture a hole in lid for the steam vent.
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4
Calculate where to place the spout. Cut the spout at a good pouring angle and dry fit it to the side of the partially completed teapot, forming the curves for pouring by carving and modeling by hand.
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5
Outline the position for the spout's final placement on the side of the teapot. Push holes inside the outlined area where the spout goes. This creates a screen-like pattern for the tea to flow through.
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6
Attach the spout with wet clay, called the slipping and scoring method. Scratch the spout and the area where the spout attaches to the pot.
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7
Form a carrot-shaped piece of clay into a handle by pressing it against a flat surface edge, like a table. Slip and score both ends of the handle and attach it to the opposite side of the teapot. Then, rest the pot to dry a day or two and fire it.
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