By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
It was all things teapots this past Saturday, October 14th, at the Westwood Public Library (WPL) as pottery expert, Rick Hamelin, showcased his talent for all in attendance. Adults gathered within the Community Room to learn how to make different teapots from around the world.
Not only did Hamelin discuss his vast knowledge about teapots, but he also demonstrated his array of talents. Many of the teapots that he created were original versions, as the teapot itself has certainly come a long way since the early 1400s.
When talking about the history of teapots, Hamelin mentioned, “It is a combination of ideas that bring the teapot history together. Quite frankly, I call it the teapot project. We make the container that's got a spout and a handle and it holds hot water and how you create your teapot is a question on how you are going to drink it and what culture you are from. And if you have a certain spouted vessel, and you put wine in it, you aren’t going to put tea in it because it’s off-tasting now. Same thing goes for coffee. We make wine pots, we make teapots, we make coffee pots. You start mixing it all together and it would just taste gross.”
Attendees sat in awe watching Hamelin work his magic on his pottery wheel. He brought both red and white clay and mentioned that while this clay was not from Massachusetts, they still do dig for it here, just not as much anymore. No matter where you get your clay from, with the right technique, anyone can create a type of teapot like the one’s showcased all over the globe.
If pottery making isn’t your thing, there are teapots sold all over in a wide variety of stores. When going to purchase any of these teapots, Hamelin gave some great advice, “If you notice on the teapot I just made, the spout is higher than the water level. If the spout was lower, the water would rise up and spit back out at us. So whenever you buy a teapot, never buy one where the spout is lower than the height of the teapot because you won’t be able to fill it all the way up to the rim.”
As an added bonus through this history lesson and demonstration, attendees were able to feel for themselves what the clay felt like once it was formed. Right off the pottery wheel, a teapot that Hamelin made was passed around so everyone could feel the texture and consistency of what a teapot was made of back in the early days of society. At the end of this event, everyone left learning something new and in absolute awe of Hamelin’s talent!
