This is the latest in my acorn cap series of pieces. I have been working on this piece since the first week of April and just finished it last night. I have been wanting to do a tea kettle for some time. This is a fairly literal interpretation of the tea kettles that I remember from my childhood. Tea for me growing up in South Texas was something that was put over ice. Most family's brewed their tea in the sun in a large glass pickle jar. However in inclement weather sun tea could not be made so you had to boil your water. I remember those large domed tea kettles sitting on every family's stove.
This piece was not intended to be a delicate, dainty, tea pot. It is a kettle in scale and dimension. It is a little over 7" high and a little over 9 1/2" total width. For me this was a fairly difficult piece to make just because of all of the processes. The main body is Live Oak acorn caps cast in my teal blue resin. The body was left at 3/16" thick which is a little thicker so that it could accommodate blind dowels in the handle and a hollow blind dowel for the spout. The base, handle, spout, and lid are all from the same piece or Live Oak burl cast is the same pigmented resin. The base is about 1/4" at the center but the bottom was turned at a concave to the full thickness at the edge. While this does make it a little heavy it really shows off the piece of wood from the bottom side. It is a beautiful piece of wood that I wanted to be able to be viewed with maximum effect if desired. I call it "Acorn Tea"
I will be taking this piece to the National Symposium for the instant gallery.
As always cheers and jeers are welcome.
Alan
