of the Unstuffed Wombat, and the Teacup that Couldn't
A couple of recently discovered op-shop treasures.
Once upon a time, someone took a linen tea towel printed with a picture of wombats and made it into a wall hanging, adding a backing layer of fabric, highlighting features of the image with sewing machine embroidery...
and stuffing one of the wombat shapes into 3-D relief with some polyester filling.
It's a wonderful creative effort, but I don't think it really worked out. The lump of stuffing pulled the shape and line of the cloth all out of whack. It just wasn't going to sit straight or flat.
But I wanted that beautiful tea towel. Out came the quick-unpick...
I was stoked when I spotted this funky little cup. Like many tea-drinking enthusiasts, I'm quite particular about the vessel from which I partake. I don't like mugs, but the traditional tea cup is too small, and life is too short. I'm always looking out for something pretty and pleasing in design, with a nice low shape. And this one is a very handsome shade of pink (i.e. it goes with my wardrobe).
It ticked all the boxes - until I tried to make a cup of tea in it. It was dreadful. It tasted like hot paper. I tried a few more times over the next few days, making sure I did everything the same as I did when making tea in my regular cup - the same tea, the same hot water, the same brewing. But every cup of tea I made in the new cup was just awful. I'm certain that it's haunted by a spirit that doesn't like tea. Sometimes things just don't work out.
Once upon a time, someone took a linen tea towel printed with a picture of wombats and made it into a wall hanging, adding a backing layer of fabric, highlighting features of the image with sewing machine embroidery...
and stuffing one of the wombat shapes into 3-D relief with some polyester filling.
It's a wonderful creative effort, but I don't think it really worked out. The lump of stuffing pulled the shape and line of the cloth all out of whack. It just wasn't going to sit straight or flat.
But I wanted that beautiful tea towel. Out came the quick-unpick...
I was stoked when I spotted this funky little cup. Like many tea-drinking enthusiasts, I'm quite particular about the vessel from which I partake. I don't like mugs, but the traditional tea cup is too small, and life is too short. I'm always looking out for something pretty and pleasing in design, with a nice low shape. And this one is a very handsome shade of pink (i.e. it goes with my wardrobe).
It ticked all the boxes - until I tried to make a cup of tea in it. It was dreadful. It tasted like hot paper. I tried a few more times over the next few days, making sure I did everything the same as I did when making tea in my regular cup - the same tea, the same hot water, the same brewing. But every cup of tea I made in the new cup was just awful. I'm certain that it's haunted by a spirit that doesn't like tea. Sometimes things just don't work out.
more fodder for the mosaic it is!
ReplyDeletewell I am certainly fascinated by the number of commonalities I'm reading, Lady. Let me tell you sometime. Do you know your Nakshastra in Jyotish?
ReplyDeletei share your enthuiasm for the correct vessel. I once found a china tea cup, made in india, brand new...delicious (yes i tried to eat it) floral pattern but the handle was all wrong!! Talk about stiff little fingers!! it was seemingly designed specifically for that mudra, er I mean gesture. I could barely get my fingers inside the handle and instead would be required to daintily 'pinch' or, rather, pince (Think, crab) i suppose. I must be SO un aristocratic. British Raj yaaaaa
You know how the Chinese revere their tea pots, handing them down through the generations. Your aforementioned cup must not have had the porous nature necessary even for the first cup. I recently was offered green tea in a tea house (inside a yoga studio) that was $300 a bag. Japan pre tsunami. That was special. it wasn't the full ceremenoy, but just the thimbles of tea, and the sitting on the knees with an old friend, in a little alcove...curtain pulled closed...very, very very nice