How to Make a Teapot Spout Fit Perfectly Plus, Great Tips for Fitting Teapot Spouts! Jared Zehmer

Learning how to make ceramic teapots is a big milestone in any potter’s ceramic development. From handles to spouts, teapots have multiple components and getting them all to work together successfully is an exciting challenge for the budding ceramic artist.

This post will focus on one component only: the teapot spout. In this post, an excerpt from our video Pencil & Process in Motion, Jared Zehmer shows how to attach a teapot spout at just the right angle. Plus, Tiffany Hilton shares her take on this technique. - Jennifer Poellot Harnetty, editor

This clip was excerpted from Pencil & Process in Motion with Jared Zehmer, which is available in the Ceramic Arts Network Shop.

Great Tips for Fitting Teapot Spouts

by Tiffany Hilton

Making teapots can seem like the ultimate challenge. Cutting spouts at the right angle to fit the body has always been the hardest part for me. Recently I had a revelation when I thought to use one of my circle templates to trace a line at the angle I wanted while fitting spouts (2). These plastic templates are readily available at your local art supply store or online and come in various sizes.

A practice that I keep and recommend to my students is to always throw several spouts for each teapot so that you have multiple options to choose from. Try making teapots in a series of 3 or 4 at a time and throw at least 8 spouts to work with.

Start with a larger diameter circle that fits your spout and move the spout to find the angle you are looking for (3), then mark the line and cut with a knife (4, 5). Remember you can always cut more or adjust the angle slightly as you work to find the right fit. Attaching spouts at a soft leather-hard state offers the best results as you can still mold the cut edge to fit the body (6, 7).

**First published in 2018.