Murray & Bacia Edelman on tue 28 mar 00
Hello, friends.
Short question: In giving instructions to a purchaser of a functional
teapot, and if I want to print a note re rinsing teapot first with warm
tapwater and then pouring in the boiling water, do I instruct new owner to
do this the first time or two only, or every time the teapot will be used.
If you have an answer, I would be most grateful. If you wish to read on,
fine too. It gets wordy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------
I have been making teapots for years and years. In the past,thrown in
porcelain and highly functional, high-fire reduced. Later handbuilt with
table-stands and cups, very non-functional and even the spouts were solid
clay, lids part of design and affixed. Low-fired and layered underglazes.
I quit those about 5 yrs. ago.
And I had no chance to enter the recent discussion re both types.
Now I make two types of teapots: mainly electric-fired and partly
hand-built with thrown bases and lids. The others are loose, mostly
hand-built, but quite functional and fired as guests in wood kilns.
My question is about placing instructions on the inside in a note to new
owner.
At NCECA, I saw a very nice John Glick teapot on exhibit. As there were no
signs not to touch, I typically looked inside. There was a note telling
the new owner to rinse first with hot tap water and then pour in the
boiling water.
I never did this with my own functional ones.
BUT, I recently ruined a wood-fired one, by pouring water straight from a
boiled kettle into it, and it was a successful one to look at. All
hand-built and time-consuming. The crack which occurred made a sickening
NOISE. The spout poured beautifully!!
I spoke with Randy Becker, friend and high school teacher who invites me
now to place pieces in any of his kilns, salt or wood with salt, and who
had fired it. He is sure it was the clay body, which was not meant to go
to c/11, which the teapot reached, never mind even c/10 which Continental
Clay expects it to withstand ("high fire c/7 to c/10 white stoneware" is
how it is listed in catalog.)
I have just sold the last functional teapot still in my hands, still to be
picked up.
It will remain in my town, Madison, as it is a wedding gift to one of the
poets from the rest of them in a poetry-writing group here. It was fired
at c/6 in electric, and all those have been o.k. except for two. The
spouts are narrow and hand-built and the problem with those two: poured
like, well, Peyronie's disease :-}}} or a garden watering can or water came
out from under the lid at the same time. Only two out of dozens failed to
pour right and I yielded the hammer.
But I want to put a note in this newly purchased teapot and need help
about what to say re the pre-warming. I wish I could bother John Glick
with a phone call, but he knows me not and my Clayart gang is helpful and
wonderful.
Thanks, people. Bacia
(trying out several other high-fire clay bodies for teapots when I have time)
Bacia Edelman Madison, Wisconsin
http://www.mypots.com/bacia.htm
Louis H.. Katz on wed 29 mar 00
Hi Bacia,
All Clay is cracked and everytime you change its temperature the cracks grow.
The more evenly you bring your pot through the change in temperature the less
the growth is. This is why we cool our kilns slow.
Ah Leon rinses both the outside and inside of his Yi Xing teapots before use.
Louis
Murray & Bacia Edelman wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> Hello, friends.
> Short question: In giving instructions to a purchaser of a functional
> teapot, and if I want to print a note re rinsing teapot first with warm
> tapwater and then pouring in the boiling water, do I instruct new owner to
> do this the first time or two only, or every time the teapot will be used.
> If you have an answer, I would be most grateful. If you wish to read on,
> fine too. It gets wordy.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> I have been making teapots for years and years. In the past,thrown in
> porcelain and highly functional, high-fire reduced. Later handbuilt with
> table-stands and cups, very non-functional and even the spouts were solid
> clay, lids part of design and affixed. Low-fired and layered underglazes.
> I quit those about 5 yrs. ago.
> And I had no chance to enter the recent discussion re both types.
> Now I make two types of teapots: mainly electric-fired and partly
> hand-built with thrown bases and lids. The others are loose, mostly
> hand-built, but quite functional and fired as guests in wood kilns.
> My question is about placing instructions on the inside in a note to new
> owner.
> At NCECA, I saw a very nice John Glick teapot on exhibit. As there were no
> signs not to touch, I typically looked inside. There was a note telling
> the new owner to rinse first with hot tap water and then pour in the
> boiling water.
> I never did this with my own functional ones.
> BUT, I recently ruined a wood-fired one, by pouring water straight from a
> boiled kettle into it, and it was a successful one to look at. All
> hand-built and time-consuming. The crack which occurred made a sickening
> NOISE. The spout poured beautifully!!
> I spoke with Randy Becker, friend and high school teacher who invites me
> now to place pieces in any of his kilns, salt or wood with salt, and who
> had fired it. He is sure it was the clay body, which was not meant to go
> to c/11, which the teapot reached, never mind even c/10 which Continental
> Clay expects it to withstand ("high fire c/7 to c/10 white stoneware" is
> how it is listed in catalog.)
> I have just sold the last functional teapot still in my hands, still to be
> picked up.
> It will remain in my town, Madison, as it is a wedding gift to one of the
> poets from the rest of them in a poetry-writing group here. It was fired
> at c/6 in electric, and all those have been o.k. except for two. The
> spouts are narrow and hand-built and the problem with those two: poured
> like, well, Peyronie's disease :-}}} or a garden watering can or water came
> out from under the lid at the same time. Only two out of dozens failed to
> pour right and I yielded the hammer.
>
> But I want to put a note in this newly purchased teapot and need help
> about what to say re the pre-warming. I wish I could bother John Glick
> with a phone call, but he knows me not and my Clayart gang is helpful and
> wonderful.
> Thanks, people. Bacia
> (trying out several other high-fire clay bodies for teapots when I have time)
>
> Bacia Edelman Madison, Wisconsin
> http://www.mypots.com/bacia.htm
Janet Kaiser on wed 29 mar 00
Bacia,
Here in the adopted home of tea -- the British Isles -- heating the pot is
part of the ritual when making tea.
We pour some very hot water out of the kettle before it reaches boiling
point into the pot and swill it around to pre-warm the whole tea pot. We
throw that water out once the pot is well warmed/hot, then we add the tea (a
spoon/tea bag per person plus one for the pot) then pour on the boiling
water. Stand for three to four minutes, then pour. This brewing time is
important. Any less, and the amount of tannin is disproportionately high.
That is also why lidded hot water pots are/were sold with a teapot. The
hostess can then add water to the cup of tea for those who wanted it
"weaker".
Pot warming is not just a custom. If you do not warm up the pot first, it
cools the tea infusion down too much. The tea does not "brew" properly and
tastes different... Well that is the theory! In a country where houses can
be freezing cold, it also means at least the tea is hot and not luke warm
right from the start!
You must warm the pot each and every time you make a pot of tea.
Some people never wash out teapots, but rely on cleaning them with Steradent
(denture cleaner) once or twice a year. This also gets rid of the built-up
gunk around and down the spout which you cannot see. This non-washing of
teapots comes from the days when tea was made in silver-plated teapots. The
base metal was lined with a tin or pewter alloy so if that was scratched and
scrapped off, you were likely to be consuming large quantities of lead in
your daily cuppa!
If water comes out of the lid when pouring, you may be pouring too fast at
too acute an angle. But if not, it is usually because a vacuum forms.
Sometimes this happens if the spout is too narrow to pour tea out whilst
letting air in at the same time...
Especially if there is no air hole. A good teapot always has a small air
hole in the lid. Either through the knob or in the lid surface. Lids for
teapots should also have some device to stop them falling off when pouring
until the pot is empty. This can sometimes be quite an acute angle. Nothing
worse than a lid falling off into a cup! Spoils the tea party.
Being such a "British institution" I suggest adding the words of the
immortal Isabella Beeton for your teapots:
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management
Ward, Lock and Co., London 1861
Page 1476, Recipe No. 3481. TEA, TO MAKE
"In order to make good tea it is necessary that the water should be quite
boiling, but it must on no account be water that has boiled for some time,
or been previously boiled, cooled, and then re-boiled. It is a good plan to
empty the kettle and refill it with fresh cold water, and make the tea the
moment it reaches boiling point. Soft water makes the best tea, and boiling
softens the water, but after it has boiled for some time it again becomes
hard. When water is very hard a tiny pinch of carbonate of soda may be put
into the teapot with the tea, but it must be used very sparingly, otherwise
it may impart a very unpleasant taste to the beverage. Tea is better made in
an earthen than a metal pot. One good teaspoon of tea will be found
sufficient for two small cups, if made with boiling water and allowed to
stand 3 or 4 minutes: longer than this it should never be allowed to stand.
The delicate flavour of the tea may be preserved and injurious effects
avoided by pouring the tea, after it has stood 3 or 4 minutes, into a clean
teapot which has been previously heated."
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art, Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales
Home of The International Potters Path
TEL: (01766) 523570
WEB: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
EMAIL: postbox@the-coa.org.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: Murray & Bacia Edelman
To:
Sent: 28 March 2000 19:14
Subject: teapot question
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> Hello, friends.
> Short question: In giving instructions to a purchaser of a functional
> teapot, and if I want to print a note re rinsing teapot first with warm
> tapwater and then pouring in the boiling water, do I instruct new owner to
> do this the first time or two only, or every time the teapot will be used.
> If you have an answer, I would be most grateful. If you wish to read on,
> fine too. It gets wordy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ---------
> I have been making teapots for years and years. In the past,thrown in
> porcelain and highly functional, high-fire reduced. Later handbuilt with
> table-stands and cups, very non-functional and even the spouts were solid
> clay, lids part of design and affixed. Low-fired and layered underglazes.
> I quit those about 5 yrs. ago.
> And I had no chance to enter the recent discussion re both types.
> Now I make two types of teapots: mainly electric-fired and partly
> hand-built with thrown bases and lids. The others are loose, mostly
> hand-built, but quite functional and fired as guests in wood kilns.
> My question is about placing instructions on the inside in a note to new
> owner.
> At NCECA, I saw a very nice John Glick teapot on exhibit. As there were
no
> signs not to touch, I typically looked inside. There was a note telling
> the new owner to rinse first with hot tap water and then pour in the
> boiling water.
> I never did this with my own functional ones.
> BUT, I recently ruined a wood-fired one, by pouring water straight from a
> boiled kettle into it, and it was a successful one to look at. All
> hand-built and time-consuming. The crack which occurred made a sickening
> NOISE. The spout poured beautifully!!
> I spoke with Randy Becker, friend and high school teacher who invites me
> now to place pieces in any of his kilns, salt or wood with salt, and who
> had fired it. He is sure it was the clay body, which was not meant to go
> to c/11, which the teapot reached, never mind even c/10 which Continental
> Clay expects it to withstand ("high fire c/7 to c/10 white stoneware" is
> how it is listed in catalog.)
> I have just sold the last functional teapot still in my hands, still to be
> picked up.
> It will remain in my town, Madison, as it is a wedding gift to one of the
> poets from the rest of them in a poetry-writing group here. It was fired
> at c/6 in electric, and all those have been o.k. except for two. The
> spouts are narrow and hand-built and the problem with those two: poured
> like, well, Peyronie's disease :-}}} or a garden watering can or water
came
> out from under the lid at the same time. Only two out of dozens failed to
> pour right and I yielded the hammer.
>
> But I want to put a note in this newly purchased teapot and need help
> about what to say re the pre-warming. I wish I could bother John Glick
> with a phone call, but he knows me not and my Clayart gang is helpful and
> wonderful.
> Thanks, people. Bacia
> (trying out several other high-fire clay bodies for teapots when I have
time)
>
>
>
> Bacia Edelman Madison, Wisconsin
> http://www.mypots.com/bacia.htm
>
Knox Steinbrecher on wed 29 mar 00
I have ALWAYS used warm tap water to heat the teapot first...even commercial
ones. I was taught by my Grandmother that this was the way one made tea. I
never knew that her ritual was saving the teapot. Sweet thought.
knox in Georgia...glad to be back to Clayart after a too long absence
Laura Freedman on wed 29 mar 00
At 01:14 PM 03/28/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>Hello, friends.
>Short question: In giving instructions to a purchaser of a functional
>teapot, and if I want to print a note re rinsing teapot first with warm
>tapwater and then pouring in the boiling water, do I instruct new owner to
>do this the first time or two only, or every time the teapot will be used.
>If you have an answer, I would be most grateful. If you wish to read on,
>fine too. It gets wordy.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------
>Hi Bacia, every time you have tea. It warms the pot against sudden shock
>when you do pour in the hot water and it also keeps the
tea warmer since the hot tea doesn't have to warm the pot too. Don't know
where I read it or who taught me but I have been doing it for
years. Laura
>Bacia Edelman Madison, Wisconsin
>http://www.mypots.com/bacia.htm
Jinjer Stanton on wed 29 mar 00
The purpose of putting warm water into the pot before actually making
the tea (besides the thermal shock thing) is to warm the pot so the tea
will not cool off so rapidly once made. For this reason, I fill the pot
with the hottest tap water possible and let it set while the tea water
comes to a boil. Then I pour it off, add tea and the boiling water.
It really works to keep the tea warm longer.
Jinjer
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hello, friends.
Short question: In giving instructions to a purchaser of a functional
teapot, and if I want to print a note re rinsing teapot first with warm
tapwater and then pouring in the boiling water, do I instruct new owner
to
do this the first time or two only, or every time the teapot will be
used.
If you have an answer, I would be most grateful. If you wish to read
on,
fine too. It gets wordy.
Craig Martell on wed 29 mar 00
Hi:
I tell folks to warm my teapots with hot tap water every time the pot has
cooled to near ambient temperature. I do this myself when I make a pot o'
tea. I fill the teapot with hot tap water and let it sit and warm while I
boil the steeping water. I pour the tap water into a pitcher when I'm
ready to brew and save it for the next pot of tea. I have a card with this
info that I put into my teapots.
regards, Craig Martell in Oregon
Helen Bates on thu 30 mar 00
Bacia,
As far as I know, the heating the pot first instructions are a tea
thing, not a pot thing. If your pot broke when boiling water was put in
it, there was a pot problem.
For the pot problem, I have no advice, except, if it was Raku, it may be
better not to use it unless you know there are no toxic chemicals likely
to leach out with use, especially as some people keep their tea in the
pot for hours and drink it cold later in the day.
Others will be more able to discuss why the pot cracked than I, but I do
know from our college technician that the Raku process is stressful on
the clay anyway, so the pot may have been ready to crack on the addition
of any further stress, whether heat, a slight bang, the weight of
liquid, or whatever you can think of.
Sincerely,
Helen
=========================================================
Helen Bates
mailto:nell@reach.net
=========================================================
Teres Whitney on thu 30 mar 00
The other reason for warming the pot is thermal shock. The pot will crack
if boiling water is poured in without getting the molecules going first.
Also keeps hot water hot inside of pot pulling out the heat to warm the pot.
Of course if you have formulated your clay for shock then except for pulling
heat from water to warm pot, your safe.
The hotter the water the better the tea bags steep!
Teres-dallas
-----Original Message-----
From: Knox Steinbrecher
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: teapot question
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have ALWAYS used warm tap water to heat the teapot first...even
commercial
>ones. I was taught by my Grandmother that this was the way one made tea. I
>never knew that her ritual was saving the teapot. Sweet thought.
>
>
>knox in Georgia...glad to be back to Clayart after a too long absence
>
Lesley Alexander on fri 31 mar 00
More tannic acid if brewed less than 3-4 minutes? I've heard there was
more if it was left to soak more than one minute, so to avoid it you pour
quick (and lose flavor, no doubt). No proof; anyone have any data on this?
Lesley in Southern California which surrounded by trees in dashing green
spring dress. When the rest of the country has spring we'll be drying up.
Helen Bates on fri 31 mar 00
I once heated up my nice English "Brown Betty" teapot in the Microwave.
I thought I had made the exterior glaze craze. However, it just seemed
to have formed some sort of surface network of calcium-like white
material that gradually I was able to scrub off with a plastic
scrubber. The glaze is now shiny and unlined again.
Helen
--
=========================================================
Helen Bates
mailto:nell@reach.net
=========================================================
Earl Brunner on sat 1 apr 00
I'm assuming that the "brown betty" teapot has a dark glaze
on it.
I will also suggest to you that it is indead crazed. I doubt
that you
caused it to craze though. You just can't see it because the
glaze is
dark. Appparently when you microwaved the teapot, heated
moisture in
the clay made it's way out through the crazing and carries
some soluable
salts with it. After some use, the calcium type stuff wore
off and the
glaze looks like it's normal self again. Albeit, with
invisible crazing.
Helen Bates wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I once heated up my nice English "Brown Betty" teapot in the Microwave.
> I thought I had made the exterior glaze craze. However, it just seemed
> to have formed some sort of surface network of calcium-like white
> material that gradually I was able to scrub off with a plastic
> scrubber. The glaze is now shiny and unlined again.
>
> Helen
> --
>
> =========================================================
> Helen Bates
> mailto:nell@reach.net
> =========================================================
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
Ron Roy on tue 4 apr 00
I can't stand it any longer - I just have to point out what this is all about.
If a tea pot cracks when water is poured in - even if the tea pot is frozen
- then the liner glaze is in too much compression. The problem is
compounded if there is a crazed glaze on the out side. The problem is less
if the same glaze in applied inside and out.
By all means warn your customers if your tea pots, mugs and cassarolls have
the inside glaze putting too much preasure on your ware and have them warm
the pot first - it will help those pots to last longer - but the problem
will still be there - waiting.
It is not difficult to test ware to see if that is the problem - if it is -
contact me and I will fix it for you.
RR
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough
Ontario, Canada
M1G 3N8
Evenings 416-439-2621
Fax 416-438-7849
millie carpenter on thu 6 apr 00
Ron,
if you use two different glazes, and there is no obvious crackling or crawling o
anything else wierd looking, how can you tell if there is too much compression
one side or the other?
Millie in Md where the catapillars are trying to hatch and eat my apple trees ;-
Ron Roy wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I can't stand it any longer - I just have to point out what this is all about.
>
> If a tea pot cracks when water is poured in - even if the tea pot is frozen
> - then the liner glaze is in too much compression. The problem is
> compounded if there is a crazed glaze on the out side. The problem is less
> if the same glaze in applied inside and out.
Ron Roy on tue 11 apr 00
Hi Millie,
Four ways:
Have the glaze and clay measured in a dilatometer.
Have the clay measred and calculate the glaze expansion.
Calculate the glaze expansion and compare to other similar clays.
Glaze in inside only of a cylinder - keeping the clay on the thiner side of
normal and the glaze a little thicker. Freeze the sample and pour boiling
water in while it is frozen - do it in a sink incase the sample cracks.
This is probably the best test because it is practical. The bigger the
sample the more accurate the results.
If the sample cracks any where along the way you would need to raise the
expansion of the glaze.
This test would only be good for one glaze on one clay - if you work with
two clays do it with both. Test each glaze you would use as a liner on all
the clays you use.
I can usually tell if there is going to be a problem if you are working at
cone 6. Cone 10 bodies are more prown to having cristobalite present which
aggravates the problem.
Remember - crazed glazes do not crack pots - it does weaken them though. At
one point in the Hamer book - when talking about this he states -
production potters like to have their glazes just below crazing - it's not
so bad if they get some ocasional crazing but cracked pots are no good at
all for business.
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Ron,
>
>if you use two different glazes, and there is no obvious crackling or
>crawling o
>anything else wierd looking, how can you tell if there is too much compression
>one side or the other?
>
>Millie in Md where the catapillars are trying to hatch and eat my apple
>trees ;-
>
>Ron Roy wrote:
>
>> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>> I can't stand it any longer - I just have to point out what this is all
>>about.
>>
>> If a tea pot cracks when water is poured in - even if the tea pot is frozen
>> - then the liner glaze is in too much compression. The problem is
>> compounded if there is a crazed glaze on the out side. The problem is less
>> if the same glaze in applied inside and out.
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus Trail
Scarborough
Ontario, Canada
M1G 3N8
Evenings 416-439-2621
Fax 416-438-7849
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