My first teapot

Actually that's not true, I made a teapot when I was a child but it leaked and we ended up throwing it away. This one, surprisingly, is just big enough for one mug - and about 1 1/2 of these small moomin cups (pictured alongside the teapot). The main pot and the spout were thrown, but I forgot to throw the lid so I hand built it. 

To get the pattern i scored the grooves when it was still on the wheel, then continued the pattern by hand across the rest of it once all the bits of the teapot had been joined together. I then painted thin horizontal stripes with black slip. Before I glazed it, I waxed inside the grooves and waxed four vertical lines. I can't remember exactly which glaze I used but it was an edible one that was as close to Egyptian blue as I could get. I then tried to make more lines using manganese and copper oxide. This didn't really work very well because of two things (I think): the copper oxide bled quite a lot into the glaze, which meant i didn't achieve the definition I wanted; and the glaze was too thick in places, which meant the black lines dripped, giving it a bit of an untidy finish. 

The lid doesn't fit as snugly as i'd like and it's a lot smaller than i was aiming for. There are also issues with pouring because the spout is slightly higher than the rim, so it's more of a display teapot than a functional one. However, despite all this, I'm dead pleased with my first attempt and, once my cast is off, I'll have a go at making a bigger, better, tidier teapot. Watch this space!!