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©2007 Yoav S. Liberman
Flash Teapot , 2005
maple, found flash-unit reflector, walnut, copper, brass,
About three years ago I found several pruned branches on the grass in front of the Harvard Museum of Natural History. The branches belonged to a majestic and ancient maple tree that was cut down a year later due to illness.
One of these branches became my "State of the Union" bowl (500 Wood Bowls, Lark Books 2004). Then I turned a second bowl, but unfortunately it broke into pieces while under construction. A few years later I received an invitation to make a teapot for an exhibition at the Mobilia gallery in Cambridge. When I started to design the teapot I remembered the broken bowl and its pieces and decided to use it as the basis for the new piece.
First, I glued the old remains together with black epoxy adhesive, in a similar
fashion to the technique by which archeologists reassemble ancient ceramic
objects.
Second, I made the teapot arm-base from laminated walnut. My friend Leslie
Hartwell, who has collaborated with me in the past, created the copper and
brass arm-cage.
Finally, the lid of the teapot was constructed from an old photography flash
unit with a beautiful stainless steel reflector-fan. I turned a two-part
walnut knob that serves as a hub and finial to the reflector-fan. The knob
facilitates the opening and closing of the fan. The lid, with care, can be
taken in and out of the arm-cage.