Shauna Mulvihill on wed 5 feb 97
Clayarters-
Please help if you can offer any information on MAKING interesting
teapot handles or where to buy decent handles. I have checked some
catalogs but I have only found a few basic (some cheaply made) designs.
I have visited Chinatown and Japanese town but can not make this trip
often and still, the designs are limited. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Shauna
Dannon Rhudy on thu 6 feb 97
Shauna,
You do not say if you want to "make" clay handles or from other
materials. Obviously you can pull or otherwise make handles of
clay and attach them. If you are looking for organic materials
to use for handles, there are lots of possibilities. Grapevine
can make good handles, many grasses woven or bound togther can
be used, other kinds of vines, certain woods. I find it useful
to choose vines when they are green and flexible, give them an
approximate curve and length, let them dry. Or, if right season,
you can attach them green to pots, let them dry on the pot itself.
In that case, you have to think about shrinkage, so that the
handle does not appear flimsy or inadequate after it has dried.
Wisteria and honeysuckle vines can be woven or bound also; they
are extremely flexible and in that sense easy to use.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
Clayarters-
Please help if you can offer any information on MAKING interesting
teapot handles or where to buy decent handles.
Libby Ware on thu 6 feb 97
Shauna,
You might want to try making your own reed handles. The experts that
I've seen make these types of handles are Louise Harter and McKenzie
Smith. They both used round reeds size number 4 (2 3/4mm) and 2 (1
3/4mm). These reeds can be purchased from the H.H. Perkins Co. (10
South Bradley Road, Woodbridge, Conn. 06525 203-389-4011) for $7.95
per bunch. A bunch of size 4 is approximately 500 ft and size 2 1100
ft.
The process they used to make the handles follows:
1. For each handle, use 2 size 4 reeds and 1 size 2 reed -- 3 reeds in
total. (You might need to make an adjustment on the number of reeds
based on the size of your lugs.)
2. Soak the reeds at least over night so that the reeds are flexible.
Too, sometimes the reeds have splits near the middle of the strand so it
is wise to soak more than you need in the event that you get a split in
an unfortunate spot.
3. Beginning with the size 4 reed, wrap the reed back and forth through
the lugs making sure not to twist the reed. In order to gage the best
handle fit to the pot, you might want to use your index finger to gage
the height of the handle to the top of the teapot lid. This will allow
the user to hold the lid on while pouring the tea. However, the size of
the handle is relative to how you want the pot to look.
BEFORE starting with the second reed, cut two inches off the reed and
set aside for the final wrap with the smaller reed.
4. If the size of the lugs support wrapping another reed, can do that
OR you can simply fold the second reed to the approximate length (should
be slightly shorter for asthetics) and place on top of the first reed.
This, of course, is where it would be handy to have a third hand. Often
this is not an option, what I've found works, is using plastic bag ties
to hold the "to-be" handle in place for the final reed wrap.
5. The smaller reed (size 2) is begun at the base of one lug. It is
important to begin the reed in such a way that the reed will hold tight
to the initial start. The physics is not unlike that of a rope --
something like a clove hitch with the start buried in the folds of the
larger reeds.
6. Again, it is important not to twist the reed but to keep it in the
same plane as you tightly wrap, at the base of the lug, around the
bundle of handle. Both Louise and McKenzie placed each revolution of
the reed close to one another for a good two inches up the reed handle
bunch. Then kept the tension on the reed relative to the handle but
allowed the reed to spiral around the handle until reaching the same
point above the second lug.
7. Before beginning the decent, or shortly after beginning the decent
of tightly wrapped reed to the last lug, McKenzie used the short piece
of the number 4 reed as a space saver in the bundle of the handle for
the final clove hitch. Place the short piece in the base of handle
bundle and continute to wrap to the point where you want to end the
wrap. After tightening and making the clove hitch, remove the short
piece of the larger reed and shove the tail of the smaller reed into the
space created by the larger reed.
Generally, when the handles dry they are really great and strudy. And
they are quite inexpensive to make except for your time. Hope this is
a viable option for you.
Libby
Elca Branman on thu 6 feb 97
If you have access to a wisteria vine, you can cut vines in the fall, let
them dry out over a period of months, and then soak them and weave your
own handles..Don't forget to put lugs with large enough holes in them
,allowing for shrinkage, for yiour new handles....Elca
Branman Potters elcab1@juno.com
in Stone Ridge ,N.Y.
in the Hudson Valley
Michael S Janzen on thu 6 feb 97
Shauna,
Teapot Handles. I buy mine from Aftosa, (www.aftosa.com). They are nice
simple cane handles.
---Michael
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Clayarters-
>
>Please help if you can offer any information on MAKING interesting
>teapot handles or where to buy decent handles. I have checked some
>catalogs but I have only found a few basic (some cheaply made) designs.
>I have visited Chinatown and Japanese town but can not make this trip
>often and still, the designs are limited. Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks,
>Shauna
Sam Cuttell on mon 10 feb 97
At 09:03 AM 2/5/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Clayarters-
>
>Please help if you can offer any information on MAKING interesting
>teapot handles or where to buy decent handles. I have checked some
>catalogs but I have only found a few basic (some cheaply made) designs.
>I have visited Chinatown and Japanese town but can not make this trip
>often and still, the designs are limited. Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks,
>Shauna
>
>
Shauna:
A great Canadian source of pre-made handles is Saltspring Pottery.
They are a mail-order business. I've made several orders - they are
unfailingly prompt and polite.
The owner's name is Michael Collins, at 519 653 2806.
The address is:
Saltspring Pottery
13 Helen Ave.
Kitchener, Ontario
N2G 3W6
Ask for a catalogue.
Usual disclaimers apply here.
sam - alias the cat lady
Home of Manx cats, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and the odd horse
Melbourne, Ontario, CANADA
(SW Ontario)
http://www.geocities.com/paris/3110
"Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change."
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