We had a small shipment of teapots arrive from Yixing today. Inside were some small Shui Ping pots and some Xian Piao pots made by apprentices of Master Zhou. Upon unwrapping, my heart sank as I heard the tell-tale tinkling sound of broken clay. At final count, it turned out that three of the Xian Piao pots had damaged spouts.
I was packing them back into their boxes, wondering what to do with them, when it occurred to me that maybe they could still be a good teapot for someone new to tea. After all they would still brew tea well and, while the pour wouldn’t be perfect, the clay was still good and they would be better than many other pots one could end up with.
A short while with a Dremel later, and the pots now have flattened spouts, of varying lengths. These are available for free with orders over £100. Just add them to your shopping cart here: Edit: These have all gone now.