Okay. So it's hideous.

I freely acknowledge it. Oh, not the shape of it, which is quirky and fun. It's the rotten, blotchy paint job. But my mom loves it. You'd think that offspring would eventually grow out of the I'm-going-to-give-a-hideous- handmade-gift-that-I-think-is- lovely phase, and that parents would grow out of thinking that these pitiful efforts are works of sheer genius.

A-hem.

I made this for my mom when I was 25 *cringe* I was looking for a Mother's Day gift, but, being recently out of graduate school, I had very little money. There was a pottery painting place in the town where I lived and once I saw the teapot I thought that I'd hit up on the perfect idea. After all (in case you've not yet figured it out) my mom loves teapots-- even though all of her other teapots have now been cruelly abandoned in favour of the Chamomile Teapot.

In all fairness to myself, I thought it was going to turn out well. I liked the way I'd done the swirly pattern and the dots. It wasn't until after it was fired that the blotchiness showed up, but by then it was too late to back out as I was getting on a plane the next day. I reluctantly handed it over, and my mom seemed to genuinely like it. Of course, that COULD be because she wasn't wearing her glasses... :)

In any event, I call it the Madhatter Teapot, and it lives with all of my mom's other teapots. I hope that you've enjoyed gazing upon it's endearing ugliness :)

Kimberley