Strainer

A rare view [three,even] of an inverted strainer before the teapot spout is attached. You can only do this [push in the strainer] if you catch your teapot at exactly the right degree of softness - but then assembling teapots is all about catching degrees of softness,which is why they're hard to do in the Summer.Robin Welch used to do this - the idea is that the leaves don't get a chance to bunch up in the otherwise cup-shaped strainer area,thus impeding the flow of tea...but I think it's more a little craftsman-like thing we do while having fun putting teapots together.