Design and handmade by Gary Morga
Made in gilding metal and nylon, silver plated.
Design development in plasticine, card and carved and constructed hard wood.
At Camberwell School of Arts, London 1985
Preceding the development here I was exploring they way objects moved as they fell through the air and bounced across a surface.
Using this idea of something moving across a surface to develop a design for a Tea Pot. I made a hemisphere in wood to represent the infusion bowl for the tea leaves. Then I covered it in a thick layer of plasticine and began to manipulate it.
Starting with the bits I was sure of with my hands I formed a kind of handle at one side and a kinda spout at the other. Then manipulated the plasticine in the centre to make a space for putting water and tea leaves in to, where the lid would eventually go. Sharpening up the plasticine up with tools pushing it to it's limit's developing the design as far as the material would take it. This is drawing in 3D.
Changing the modelling material to card and continuing with the development. Adding a handle and drawing a black square to represent a 'spout'. Making it the actual scale to assess the visual appearance as best as possible.
Then changing material again this time to hardwood. Fabricating it by hand and carving it to fit precisely onto the metal hemisphere that would become the body of the tea pot. Using the hardwood handle and spout I was able to translate the measurements and angles into card templates before using them to mark out my metal.
Once I'd marked out the metal I pierced out a blank, scored, folded and silver soldered along the inside of the fold lines. I soldered supports on the inside to make sure they stayed parallel and in place. Each entire side was fabricated in this way. The inside edges of the metal parts required chamfering with needle files so they fitted exactly on to the curve of the metal hemisphere ready for silver soldering. Silver solder will not flow if there is the slightest gap.
All solder and solder joins have to be spotless. The parts were held in place on the pot by raising 'stitches' and using iron wire to bind and hold everything in place. Silver soldering on this scale and with this precision was a surgical procedure. At the hearth it took two torches to raise the temperature enough for the solder to touch and flow. When I was satisfied it had gone according to plan I let the whole area cool before pickling.
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