Here is just a little update on progress and development of the teapot I am currently making. It has been busy month as it is the end of the year, so there were number of things keeping me away from studio…
Step 11 – I have made some wooden mock ups of spout and handle and now I am making it in the silver. For the spout it is basically only tapered silver ring. In terms of handle it is little bit more complex. In fact it is just a silver sleeve for the handle. The actual handle will be made of wood. The function of silver sleeve is practical; it helps the wooden handle to be attached to the teapot. Because handle will be tapered (wider end touching the teapot), the sleeve needs to be made of two parts; parallel ring and tapered ring that will be soldered together.
Step 12 – raising of infuser. The infuser for the teapot will be attachable to the lid. It is important to get the infuser done first, before I cut out the opening for the lid as the final with of the infuser will determinate the diameter of the opening. The infuser looks at this stage bit like a beaker. In this case I didn’t crimp the disc first, but instead I just sunk it and then I followed with rising.
Step 13 – cut of access silver.
Step 14 – planishing of the infuser. Planishing is done on steel cylindrical stake with rounded end. The objective is to get the surface of the infuser as smooth as possible (on inside and outside).
Step 15 – emerying inside of the infuser. I find this process bit scary as I think it can be dangerous if one loses concentration for a moment. Basically wooden spindle with glued emery paper on its surface is attached to a polishing machine and that is inside of the tight beaker. The spindle is spinning around 5000rpm so one needs to be precise when placing the beaker over it otherwise the beaker gets caught on the spindle, ripped out of your hands and thrown against the wall (and hopefully your hands are safely out of the way). The beaker gets also hot really quickly so it is hard to hold. I finished the inside of the infuser (beaker shape) to 400 grade emery paper.
Step 16 – is the next step and that is to file infuser on outside, cut the hole for lid and spout and solder all major components together.
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