Vintage tableware...melamine designs....help!

Fancy a Cuppa

 

I'm having a bit of a dilemma with what to do with my Vintage Tableware melamine plate designs..... The three designs currently in the range are Fancy a Cuppa, Tea Party and High Tea (as seen above and below). Fancy a Cuppa and Tea Party are definitely the most popular designs, with High Tea not selling quite as well.

Tea Party

 

High Tea

So, I'm wondering whether to delete High Tea from the range and replace it with another design using the vintage cups and saucers.  I've mocked-up a new design below featuring the yellow rose cups with a saucer and a teaspoon, with a working name of Time for Tea

I like the simplicity of the singular teacups design which contrasts the busier teacup patterns in the other plates, but it still works as a mix-and-match coordinate to the other two designs.

New design (mock-up only) Time for Tea above, and shown with the other teacup designs below

Anyway, I'd love to get a bit of feedback if anyone out there in blog-land cares to share an opinion! So, let me know - should I keep the original teapot design, or replace with the new teacup design....

 

Retro coffee pots....and diamonds

 

I think I'm a very easy person to buy presents for...... pretty much anything ceramic, second-hand, vintage or retro - I'm guaranteed to love!  No diamonds, pearls, emeralds (OK, I do like emeralds - my birthstone and favourite colour), but really, I'm not one for expensive gold jewellery or fancy gemstones, so I think Mr B has it pretty easy when it comes to buying birthdays and Christmas gifts.  

 

He did particularly well this Christmas when I received these two rather funky retro coffee pots!  The gorgeous teal coloured coffee pot is marked as 'Sadler' England, and the other pot is a 'Kathie Winkle' design by Broadhurst, England.

 

I can't find much information on the Sadler design, but it's a really beautiful colour and features an embossed geometric pattern and stripes on the body, with part of the geo design echoed on the lid.  The Kathie Winkle pattern is called 'Roulette' and features her trademark stamped black outlines with green, orange and light blue hand-painted detail, dating from about the 1970's.  The shape of the Roulette coffee pot is the same as another Kathie Winkle design I picked up recently.

 

So there I was on Christmas day, one happy lady with two second-hand ceramic coffee pots - and no diamonds!    

Sunsets....Kyneton style

We've had some amazing coloured skies and fantastic light effects during sunset over the past few weeks here in Kyneton.  Mother nature at her finest - and all this spectacular viewing right from our veranda.  Beautiful!       

Up, up and away.....

Towards the end of last year I was commissioned to create a range of young girls and boys coordinated designs for ceramics and bedlinen application.  These sweet children's designs have an old-fashioned flight theme, with hot air balloons and vintage air planes.  

 

The designs were originally drawn in black ink, before being scanned into the computer for adding the colour.  This results in the artwork retaining a hand-drawn feel, but making different colourways very easy.        

 



The Big Brown Bear - book & record

The Big Brown Bear - a little golden book and record!   

Well, here we are.... one week into the new year and January is already racing by with lightning speed!  I managed to find time over the festive period to have a rummage in my local charity shop, and found this super-cute 'Read and Hear' Little Golden Book AND record! (a 45 RPM for those old enough (like me) to know what this means).

The story is written by Georges Duplaix and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren (copyright 1944, 1947) and tells the story of a naughty bear who gets stung on the nose after stealing some honeycomb from a beehive, whilst he was supposed to be out catching fish for his dinner.

It's been a mighty long time since I've seen a 45 RPM record, and it reminded me of the little portable orange record player I had as a child. Sadly, I no longer own a record player so I can't actually play the record, but I still thought the book and record set was too good to resist!