Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tea cups

I have been making more little tea cups. I have six now and plan to make more. I love the shape. And it is quite nice to make them one at a time, choosing the fabric, cutting, shading, ironing, fusing. I am digging through old boxes of fabrics and surprising myself by what I choose. I am not trying to duplicate the exact patterns that authentic Chinese cups would have, but rather to capture the kind of spirit they might have. Hard to explain. It is a "know it when I see it" kind of thing. Here are the new ones.



The third one is my favorite. I don' know why. I began to think about what kind of background any or all of these might work on. I dug through the stash and nothing spoke to me, so I painted some fabric this afternoon. It is what you see behind each of these. Nothing is final. Nothing is sewn, nor is it decided, but I do think I like the fabric I painted.

Here are all the cups I have made so far.


 I am not finished making cups. Or bowls. Maybe other kinds of vessels. I think this is something I can explore for awhile. Joanne asked, "100 bowls?" Maybe. Is there a significance to 100 bowls? I feel like that should mean something.

One thing I should mention. I was using Crayola crayons for the shading. June warned that they might not be as permanent as they should be for this. I told you she was smart. I have gone back to using my paints and watercolor crayons and pastels. I know they can be made pretty stable.

8 comments:

  1. Yes, no 3 is stunning. Well, they all are! But 3 mimiks a popular ceramic design from China, that's why it is so surprisingly true to life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quick, hand me a pair of chopsticks; I'm ready to eat!

    Your dark outline style never fails to captivate me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amazing how each of the different fabrics does have that Chinese feel.

    I have an idea for a piece with three cups of tea (not anything like these) since I read the book, Three Cups of Tea. Have you read that?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a soothing shape. Have you ever seen a Korean Kim Chee pot? That might appeal to you too. I found one to purchase that is only 2 inches tall because I liked the shape so much.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Did you test the crayons and find out they were not lasting?
    I was thinking about using crayons, but now I am not so sure.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Some ideas for making crayons permanent at the bottom of the "page" http://www.mesew.com/crayonart.html.
    I really like the blue print. It looks so authentically oriental to me. The background works so well with all the bowls; understated and elegant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've had the remains of a fat quarter of that first fabric in my stash for a decade. I love what you've done with it -- and the idea of the series as well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the muted tones of the background fabric you made. It sets the brighter colors of the teacups off beautifully. A very serene piece.

    ReplyDelete