Tea in Art

Here are some beautiful tea-themed artworks, photos and images I've spotted round and about... enjoy!

Sailing in a tea cup by Pragya K (thanks Jess for introducing me to Pragya's work!)

This one is a free printable card - thanks Kellie!

A beautiful tea kettle image from Tea for Joy

Stunning tea cups - found on We Heart It.

And I love the funky colours in this one (also from We Heart It).

Everything Old is New Again

Well, kind of!

I had a very successful op-shopping trip last week and came home with some excellent booty, including this wonderful retro tea cosy:

And this gorgeous teapot - English Staffordshire ware, although I don't know how old it is:

As you can see it's rather crazed and the crazing is a bit stained - so I'm going to have a go at cleaning it (carefully). Also some of the gilt is a bit worn on the handle, but there's nothing else wrong with it - it pours beautifully with nary a dribble in sight and it is a good size (holds about a litre, which is comfortably between my 2-cup pots and my 6-8 cup pot).

I also had the good fortune to be the recipient of a large collection of Noritake cups, saucers and plates, courtesy of a friend whose parents didn't want them any more, and who had no use for them himself. There are about ten demitasse cups and saucers, three trio sets of full size cups and a few extra plates - all in very good condition despite being very old (I believe they originally belonged to my friend's great-grandparents).

I don't know much about researching china patterns - does anyone have any handy tips? I would love to know the name of the Noritake pattern; it's not like any Noritake I've seen before!

Spare Teacups?

No problem! Check out the nifty things you can do with mismatched, spare teacups...

Jess made a teacup succulent garden - doesn't it look beyond terrific, like something from a magazine shoot!

And Deb shares tutorials on how to make mini cake stands out of old plates and other crockery, including teacups - great for cupcakes or small things.

I would love to do either or both of these activities, and they seem pretty well within my creative abilities, but if you are totally talented and capable of something really challenging, then take some inspiration from this 'storm in a teacup' which I spotted on Tea for Joy:

Tea Stuff Round-Up: Teacup Fun and Fruity Tea

I just LOVE these beautiful light fittings, made from upcycled teacups, which I saw in a post on the Frivoli-Tea blog. Aren't they amazing:

 

Images from Domestic Construction, via Frivoli-Tea

Here's a delicious idea: infuse your fruit with tea and your tea with fruit, simultaneously! Check out this post on T Ching for more details. Basically all you need to do is to gently simmer the fruit with the tea that you have brewed and strained and sweetened to taste, and then you have some tea-flavoured fruit to eat and fruit-flavoured tea to drink.

I have read about tea-poached pears on the Tea Spot NYC blog before, but never tried them; I think I will have to. And imagine how tasty tea-poached peaches or nectarines would be once summer comes round. I can't wait!

And guess what! For those of you who love tea-themed art* like I do, you can enter a giveaway at 74 Lime Lane to win one of Ruby Victoria's beautiful letterpress teacup prints, like this one (I so hope I win!):

*ok, tea-themed EVERYTHING. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Look what I made

I came across this tutorial on the Etsy blog the other week, and thought: teacup painting! Genius! Surely I could give that a try.

So I did, and here are a couple of trial cups and saucers... what do you think?

It makes me happy to drink out of mine (which is the one with the boy and the balloons... ironically, my husband's is the one with the flowers. It just kind of turned out that way, and he didn't want to change).

Should I experiment a bit more, and offer some of them for sale in my shop or at a market stall, perhaps?

Wishlist Wednesday - Glass Tea Cups

Here are some gorgeous glass teacups for you to enjoy... so delicate, and perfect for showing off the colour of the infused tea!

 

Blue glass vintage teacup from Noodle.

Glass teacup and saucer from Jing Tea.

Glass gaiwan from SanTion House of Tea.

 

Cups and saucers from Juniper Lodge.

And my personal favourite today:

Etched glass tea cup and saucer from Dishes' Shop.

The Nature of Tea

'Imagine the following: a Japanese tea master wishing to teach his student the importance of perception dashes a cup of tea to the ground, breaking the cup and spilling the tea. The tea master wished to illustrate the point that the broken cup was no longer a cup ... while the tea was still tea, immutable and unchanged. But as the tea could no longer be consumed without the cup to hold it, the true importance of the cup becomes clear. It is the empty space of the teacup that performs the most essential duty, one with greater importance than merely the fleeting beauty of a pleasing shape, fetching design, or lustrous glaze.'
-- The Story of Tea, p.294.

My newly acquired Aynsley teacup

Last weekend it was my dad's birthday, and to celebrate we trekked out to a little antique-shop-with-cafe in Watsons' Creek... just a small place, featuring robust home-cooked meals (and plenty of them) and stunning cakes, served on the enclosed back verandah outside the antique shop itself.

Naturally I was on the hunt for vintage teawares and I did not come away disappointed. There were a few lovely offerings there, including some full tea sets that were unfortunately out of my budget range, but then I saw this tucked into a glass-fronted cabinet and knew I had to have it:


It's Aynsley bone china, no pattern name or number listed on the bottom, and a Google search hasn't helped me identify it, but no matter. It's in perfect condition, too, apart from a little wear on the gilt around the lip of the cup and the edge of the saucer, although I'm not sure how old it is.


I particularly like it because it's so different to most of the vintage teacup sets that I have (quite a few of them are Aynsley, as well) - most are white or cream with various flower patterns, roses being heavily represented, and much as I love them this one really stands out with the gorgeous cobalt blue of the outer cup and the saucer. Also, while I have a number of cups with a little bit of the design inside the rim, I don't have one that features it like this does - such a lovely surprise compared with the relative plainness - or, well, simplicity might be a better term - of the outside.

I can't wait to use it; I've been saving it up for something special - I think perhaps an oolong or a Darjeeling, something with a clear pale or coppery colour so the design on the inside of the cup still shows through... it would be a pity to conceal it by drinking something that has milk added.

Teacup Candles by Twilight Spells

These gorgeous little teacup candles arrived on my doorstep the other week - my housewarming present to myself (or at least that's my excuse anyway):

I found them browsing on Etsy through the 'shop local' feature, where I was looking at recently listed items from sellers in Melbourne and Sydney. There were so many beautiful designs to choose from, but I fell in love with these, plus I figured they would go very nicely with our dinner set. They've been gracing the dining table on most nights since they arrived.

They're made from upcycled vintage teacups collected by the lovely Ruth at Twilight Spells in Sydney and are filled with clean-burning soy wax. Check out the others in her shop - they are too pretty for words, and you can choose your own fragrance for the wax (or leave them unscented). I decided on honeydew melon for these ones, largely (I confess) because the cups themselves were so green; they smell delicious, sweet and fruity without being overpowering.

I generally prefer to drink out of my vintage teacups (of which I have a slowly increasing collection - another post about that to follow shortly), but this is such a terrific idea I wish I'd thought of it first... Thanks Ruth, I will be checking in at your shop regularly!

Quirky tea objets d'art

I am in love. I have just come across a little snippet in this month’s Notebook: magazine about some designers who are giving old objects a new lease of life – in this case, teacups.

Lindsay Pemberton is a NZ designer who makes bangles out of old teacups – they’re sold through the online NZ designer store Clever Bastards. Check them out here. I’m very partial to the willow-pattern tea bangle, and also the ‘flourish’ one. At NZ$65 each that’s a hefty mark-up on a tea cup that probably cost a couple of bucks at the Salvos, but what the hey. I want one… I wonder how much the postage would be. Further investigation warranted, ASAP.

The other item that caught my eye – it was pictured in the magazine, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find an online copy of the image to refer you to – is the teacup pendant lamp by Suzie Stanford… an upside-down teacup and saucer made into a light fitting. Also intensely desirable, but alas out of my budget at present (they’re over A$300 each)… ah, but one day!

Returned from New Tealand!

Well, New Zealand, technically, but I had so many very pleasant experiences with tea while I was over there that it almost did count as New Tealand, really.

While there were many highlights of our trip, most of them either nerdy (full day LOTR tours, anyone? Bliss!) or foodie (full day tasting tour in Martinborough and surrounds, plus many delicious restaurant meals) I will restrict myself to the tea highlights (tea lights? Hmmm) because those are what this blog is all about, after all.

It proved not very difficult at all to get decent loose-leaf tea in restaurants, particularly in Wellington where most places seemed to stock T Leaf Tea. The branding of this tea is very similar to T2 (black and orange) and they provide a similar range of products but also some that I hadn’t seen before, including quite a good range of single estate black teas and the best variety of beehouse (now known as ‘zero’) teapots I’ve seen – lots of different colours, so pretty! I would particularly like one in pumpkin orange…

One night in Wellington we went to Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, a place that serves really good deep-South of America type food, for dessert and tea. I was delighted to find that the tea itself (a raspberry and vanilla flavoured rooibos, very sweet and pleasant, not overpowering at all) was served in a beautiful blue-flowered Royal Albert tea cup, with matching plate. I am pretty sure that this picture depicts the pattern (it’s from an unnamed set matched with the pattern ‘Marguerite’, which I found thanks to this site.

Now I was also conscious of the need to sample some NZ biscuits, along with my tea, and on the matching plate which came with my tea at Sweet Mother’s Kitchen I tried out an afghan biscuit. These chocolate biscuits with chocolate icing on top seem to be very popular in NZ (there are also supermarket versions, though I skipped those in favour of trying out some Toffeepops, which were yummy). The one I had that evening was absolutely sublime. It had crunchy bits in it (which, after looking at some recipes online, I have deduced to be cornflakes or weeties), it was crumbly and buttery and chocolatey, and the icing was fantastic. Yet overall it wasn’t too sweet either. I am going to have a go at making some of these - here is one recipe, and here is another.

In Auckland, we went shopping to get my husband something nice at a men’s clothing shop called ‘Marvel’ (he bought a very nice striped top) – and I came away with, of all things, a teapot (the owners of the store appear to be collectors of vintage china, particularly Crown Lynn NZ made stuff). It’s a lovely deep sky blue glaze, cream coloured inside, and the most perfect pouring teapot I’ve had – not a drip! I will post a photo of it when I have a chance. So that absolutely made my trip, that’s for sure.

Another tea highlight was when we went out for dinner in Rotorua – we went to an Indian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, where we had the best Indian food I’ve eaten since leaving Melbourne last year (seriously). I ordered a cup of their chai masala tea, which was delicious – I think it had quite a bit of black pepper in it, it had quite a kick. I do like my chai with pepper, it always seems more exciting somehow than just with cinnamon and so on. I am going to have a go at blending some of my own at some point.

That’s all the tall tea tales I have time for today folks, but I will return. I have been having great success with iced tea, for example, and I have photos to post, and new teas to try, and many more things to rant about.

Tea cup novelty

Here is a link to an article about a new self-stirring (well, kind of) tea cup (thanks to Tea Guy Speaks for posting the link on his blog). It looks nifty but impractical to me… If you could put a lid on it and shake it, then maybe (but would James Bond complain about the tea being bruised?). I just don’t think it would distribute sugar evenly if you only swirl it. Or honey, if that’s more your cup of tea (so to speak).

Plus it will be harder to lick the remaining little bit of undissolved honey off like you can do when you take the spoon out of the cup so it doesn’t stick up your nose while you’re drinking your tea…

And then there’s the issue of drinking the tea without choking on the little ball, or alternatively of having to fish it out of the cup with something (like a spoon, perhaps?). And then you will have to wash it and worry about losing it.

Dear me, I’m losing sleep just thinking about this, and it’s not even lunchtime yet. No, I can’t see it catching on, I’m afraid…