Sparks Fly Up Reassembled Ring Teapot

I made this teapot composition from a curvy triangular cross-section ring cut into five sections with wavy x-acto knife cuts.  After reassembling it in an upward-spiraling stack, I added a spout made of slabs, a pulled handle, and a lid finial made of two triangular slabs which echo the ring cross-section.  I fired this teapot to cone 10 with our matt white-brown glaze in our propane-fired reduction kiln.  I was disappointed with the way parts of the glazed teapot turned out, and decided to repaint the problem areas with a second glaze layer and re-fire the teapot.  I have often re-fired cone 5 teapots in our electric kiln with no problems, but this firing was in a large 4-burner propane-fueled kiln.  Because of initial heating problems early in the kiln firing, several small bits of this teapot exploded off the pot, landing in and on many nearby pots, ruining some of them.  I couldn’t re-fire this teapot again, but one of my artist friends suggested I try gold-leafing the scars caused by the heat-shock explosions.  I spent 3 days carefully preparing and bonding the thinner-than-onion skin pure gold leaf sheets onto the teapot scars.  I also gold-leafed parts of the spout, handle, oval base, and lid finial.  Many people have told me, “I really like that golden teapot.”  I named it after the often quoted phrase from the Old Testament Book of Job,  “Man is born to sorrow as sparks fly up.”

This teapot is for sale.
Price: $1600

If you are interested in purchasing it please visit the Ordering Information section.

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.