Grasshopper Leaping Reassembled Ring Teapot

Our daughter named this teapot for me, saying that its color and swirling movement reminds her of a grasshopper leaping. I see what she means! This teapot is more sculpture than function, with room for only one cup of tea in the whole interior. The cross-section is a triangle with a large fin curving out from its top. I re-stated the ring cross-section with the triangular lid finial. This is the only teapot so far in this series where I attached the arc sections to each other more than once. This results in a dense interlocking composition, with the middle arc section attached in three places to other arc sections. There are two interior "see-throughs" in the assembly, similar to but more complicated than those in the "Pink-Green Oval Cross-Section Reassembled Hollow Ring Teapot." I chose a matt tan glaze over a glossy dark green glaze, and fired this teapot to cone 11 in our big reduction-fired gas kiln. It warped toward the flame somewhat, and I had to grind the base with our glass-grinding wheel, which was risky because the vibration of the grinding process can shatter the fired ceramic piece, but the leveling procedure was successful and the finished teapot stands gracefully upright, as it did before the firing.

This teapot is held in a private collection in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

In addition to my unique reassembled ring teapots, my partner Susan Nykiel and I also make a wide range of functional and elegant pottery pieces. Please visit our new online store at oakbluffspottery.etsy.com to see what we have to offer! This is an excellent place to shop for beautiful handmade pottery for your own home or for your gift-giving pleasure.