teapot, tempest optional

This is the teapot box I'm working on currently. It's my most 'in progress' project at the moment; i.e. it's the one I work on first when I have a minute. The top is built, finally. Now it needs crevice filling with TLS and some serious sanding. The bottom, on the other hand, is barely begun - and I still don't know what I'm going to do about the spout. It took me two days to figure out the relatively simple handle. Maybe while I'm sick and can't work (or sleep!) I'll look at some online and try to figure it out. Also I need to decide how closely I want to follow the shape of the actual box on the bottom. Right now I have one tier of figural decorationy stuff underway, but I'm wondering if it wouldn't look better with a second of about the same height but a smaller diameter. I can't wait to get back to work on it - a cold has destroyed all my energy and powers of concentration, and so my poor lonely teapot sits, gathering dust . . . Of course, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat when, while trying to find inspiration for the spout online, I ran across these lovely teapot boxes. Surely I can't be the only one discouraged instead of inspired by obviously superior work? It's why I have a love/hate relationship with various professional polyclay galleries. I immensely enjoy looking, but it fills me with despair, then, when I return to my own work. This isn't that abnormal, right?

Sea of Faces

This is the box I mentioned in my last post. It was my first foray into faux ivory. It didn't turn out that well, though that was more due to the fact I was trying multiple new things at once (faux ivory, covering a box, layering molded pieces, antiquing) than the ivory method I used (Sue Heaser's, as opposed to the layered stack or the little tubes methods). It was fun though, especially the antiquing, which doesn't look that good in the photo but looks cool in person. I also used 0000 steel wool for the final sanding pass, and really loved the result. It brings out a sheen that I hadn't been able to achieve before with most other methods. Plus it's really easy on a piece with a zillion nooks and crannies like this, as opposed to some sort of dremel-based method.