I Changed One Thing… Now It’s Much Harder (Part 1)

This week I’m throwing the individual parts needed for a teapot, making a lid that settles into an internal gallery rather than resting on the rim. It’s a small shift in design, but one that complicates the process considerably. The focus here is on forming each component cleanly and deliberately, knowing that the real challenge is still to come. A teapot breaks down into four parts: the body, lid, spout, and handle. The first three are thrown, while the handle is pulled and added later. These inset lids are particularly demanding, unlike my usual approach, where the lid can be trimmed directly on the pot with both pieces supporting one another, this method requires the lid to be made and refined independently and that small loss of efficiency changes the rhythm of the whole process, slowing it down. The spout and lid are thrown off the hump, keeping any clay preparation to a minimum but the scale introduces its own difficulty. These are small teapots, really just enough for one, with fine spouts and delicate proportions. It’s a compact form and one that demands precision at every stage. I’ve tried to include more illustrations throughout, something I relied on heavily when learning myself as sketching cross-sections like these helped me understand how each element fits together before committing it to clay. For now, this is where it all begins. Next comes the part that tests it: trimming, fitting, and assembling everything into a working whole. How to cone clay: https://youtu.be/69dMLpXosSk The spinner tools I use: https://youtu.be/fBK31iuMOHw 📖 • ORDER MY BOOK: https://geni.us/bymyhands 🏺 • You may also be interested in my 'A Beginner's Guide' series, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WJhtTF0eGhQwf8g2LHcom_KrvJpH_JT Timecodes: 0:00 - Introduction & drawing 1:05 - Sketching out the design I want to create 2:23 - Discussing each thrown component 4:27 - Throwing the body 9:23 - Throwing the lids 12:05 - Throwing the spouts 16:07 - How I carefully dry the parts out... 18:33 - Clean up • Find out much more via the link below! https://linktr.ee/floriangadsby • Get in touch here: https://www.floriangadsby.com/contact Sign up to my newsletter here: https://www.floriangadsby.com/newsletter