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Past Work - Teapotty: Cocktail Sticks

  Teapot made from cocktail sticks  Completed teapot

The inspiration for this came partly from a hedgehog that I'd made out of cocktail sticks several years ago. 

I also wanted to create something with a prickly surface to create a contrast with my soft felt teapot and the smooth surface of my wax teapot (not in the display cabinet at present).
 
  first attempt at cocktail stick teapot This was my first attempt (which failed).  I rolled out some clay into a 15-mm-thick slab and laid it into one of the 2-part plaster moulds I'd already made for creating wax teapots.

Then I cut the cocktail sticks in half and poked them point-first into the clay until they hit the plaster. 

I had to shorten the cocktail sticks in awkward places, like the spout. 
 
  cocktail stick teapot There were a lot of cocktail sticks - a couple of thousand.  Laborious work!

When I'd finished inserting cocktail sticks in the clay I created another layer of clay to form the hollow inside of the teapot.

Then I poured polyethylene resin into the whole thing, as pictured. 
 
 Failed attampt at cocktail stick teapot
 Removing the above from the mould proved difficult - I ended up breaking the mould.

Removing the clay from in between the cocktail sticks proved even more of a headache.  I had to submerge the whole thing in water and that softened the resin.  Lots of cocktail sticks fell out,  part of the spout disintegrated, and, well, I abandoned the attempt.
 
  Second attempt at cocktail stick teapot After a period of "reflection" I mended the broken mould and tried a different approach, pictured.

This time, I put a very thin layer of clay in the mould, just sufficient to hold the half-cocktail sticks in place while I bonded the tops together with a hot glue gun.  I did this bit by bit - a dozen or so half-cocktail sticks at a time.
 
  Half cocktail stick teapot It worked!  I decided to abandon the idea of making a "prickly" spout and use "longitudinal" bits of cocktail sticks for this, the handle and the lid.
 
  Completed cocktail stick teapot I joined the 2 halves of the teapot using Araldite (epoxy glue) so that I had time to adjust things.  I glued in extra half-cocktail sticks in gaps and bald patches where some sticks had fallen out.

I made the body of the lid by laying bits of cocktail stick end to end around another plaster mould, leaving a hole in the centre.

I made the knob on the top by bundling together a bunch of cocktail stick middle sections, which I held together with a Jubilee clip while I glued them.
 
     
     
     
     
     

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