Hamish Jackson
Two Person Teapot
Stoneware
Porcelaneous slip
Soda fired in inaugural firing of new catenary arch kiln as USU
6 X 6 X 8

I had a similar “aha” moment with tea like Pete Pinnell.
I was born in England, and all I had ever known was black tea with milk. My family puts the kettle on at all hours of the day to brew up a pot of tea. At home, we used an assortment of mugs, but at Grandma’s, we got China teacups complete with saucers.
I always felt so fancy drinking out of a bone China teacup. My grandma would have a couple of teaspoons of sugar in hers. Grandy was blind towards the end, so he would ask me to sugar his tea for him. He would smile mischievously and ask for four heaped teaspoons. Grandma would whisper to me frantically “two… only two” and expletives like, “for god’s sake.” I could tell when he thought it was a really nice cuppa, though. When I did heap the sugar in and it was thick, like maple syrup, he’d say “good lad,” and sip it happily.
I never enjoyed sugar in my tea, but I always had milk. Then, aged 18, I finished high school, worked various jobs to save for a round-the-world ticket, and left England behind. In Vietnam, the world of tea opened up to me.
My friends and I rented motorcycles in Hoi An. We strapped our backpacks to them and set off through the central highlands. We had a guide leading us, which was fortunate as none of us had ever ridden motorcycles before. It was tremendously good fun, but to the point… one lunch we stopped at a roadside cafe. I have long forgotten what we ate. It was the tea that stood out. A pitcher of iced jasmine tea sat on the table for us to help ourselves. It had the most incredible flavor. So fresh, floral and tasty. I was stunned, and thus began my path of tasting different teas. There is a whole world of tea out there that I would never dream of adding milk to. I do still find a cup of English style tea very comforting, though.
This teapot was made at Utah State University, where I am in my second year as a graduate student. It was fired in the inaugural firing of our new catenary arch kiln. “Mack the cat” was the result of a kiln-building class led by Todd Hayes that I took last term.
The clay is a stoneware body, intended for soda firing, that I have been working on and refining over time. It has a super secret slip over it, too, which flashed brilliantly in the kiln. It is not really a secret. Look up my slip test 173 on glazy.com and there’s the recipe!
The resulting surface depends a great deal on the atmosphere of the kiln. You can’t really see from just this one picture, but there are yellows, oranges, reds, browns, greens and grays in this pot. It really got a tasty firing.
Alright, that’s enough. Better go and put the kettle on!