Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! It has been lovely summer weather here with a touch of fall from time to time, which has triggered some allergy problems for me. But I do love walking with my honey, so sometimes ya gotta just do it!
This week my teacup is a designed around a teacup by famed designer Susie Cooper, who was in the forefront of modern English design.
The pattern is called Endon, and is an example of her pioneering English mid century modern design with the stylized Tulips or maybe Crocuses. We take
the designs for granted now, but then she was a style setter.
The marks used on her items from this period, 1932-1964, were pretty mix and match...she apparently used them at the Crown Works in Burslem, an area of Stoke-on-Trent. I like the one with the deer best! For more info, click on the photos.
I paired this pretty teacup for tea in the sunroom today with some "clean" eating Paleo cookies we found....they are pretty good actually. We read some articles suggesting changing diets to improve the health of Parkinson's disease patients, and basically changing to not processed and refined foods as much as possible, so we are doing that. The cookies say Bet You Can't Eat Just One...which I am sure you recognize as an old advertising slogan...and they are wrong on these because they are so nutrition dense you really only need one, small though they are!
The tablecloth is another family piece from the 1930-1940s from my dear aunt.
My tea is by Tazo, Berryblossom White and it is lovely! White tea is barely oxidized while black tea is fully oxidized. This has a pale straw color, a bit of astringency...not bitter...and a gorgeous blueberry smell and flavor. Lovely!
Recently, on a private Facebook group I belong to, I met a woman who still works at the potteries, at Wedgwood, in the very small design and decoration studio in Barlaston...which has replaced the huge workshops that there before all the pottery shakeups, consolidations and closures as production was moved out of the UK.
She is a decorator, and as an industry worker, has begun collecting the salesman or pottery paint sample plates used for the colors sold to the potteries for their china.
C J Baines in Fenton...another district of Stoke, made this in 1959...it is fascinating to see the colours and think that's how designs were planned.
Wengers, Ltd. was another painter manufacturer. These examples are from the Gladstone Pottery Museum, and shows the various hues that were used on transferware and other designs...there were certainly different versions of blue transferware!
This a BBC archives photo of china painters at work at the Meakin pottery, which closed in the early 1970s.
This is a Spode sample plate...no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, it shows the difference a certain glaze made on the color of the transfer of theis Italian Scenes plate before and after the final firing in the kiln. The right side is definitely more vivid in color. Photos of the sample plates by permission Rosie Cooke and Phil Rowley. They have also a few marked ones from Mintons, Dudson, Spode, Royal Doulton etc. which were, I think to show as samples or to try/test various colours and prints. Now that's an interesting collection!
Sometime I'll share more about our visits to the Gladstone Pottery Museum...a great place to visit if you love china!
This week my teacup is a designed around a teacup by famed designer Susie Cooper, who was in the forefront of modern English design.
The pattern is called Endon, and is an example of her pioneering English mid century modern design with the stylized Tulips or maybe Crocuses. We take
the designs for granted now, but then she was a style setter.
The marks used on her items from this period, 1932-1964, were pretty mix and match...she apparently used them at the Crown Works in Burslem, an area of Stoke-on-Trent. I like the one with the deer best! For more info, click on the photos.
I paired this pretty teacup for tea in the sunroom today with some "clean" eating Paleo cookies we found....they are pretty good actually. We read some articles suggesting changing diets to improve the health of Parkinson's disease patients, and basically changing to not processed and refined foods as much as possible, so we are doing that. The cookies say Bet You Can't Eat Just One...which I am sure you recognize as an old advertising slogan...and they are wrong on these because they are so nutrition dense you really only need one, small though they are!
The tablecloth is another family piece from the 1930-1940s from my dear aunt.
My tea is by Tazo, Berryblossom White and it is lovely! White tea is barely oxidized while black tea is fully oxidized. This has a pale straw color, a bit of astringency...not bitter...and a gorgeous blueberry smell and flavor. Lovely!
Recently, on a private Facebook group I belong to, I met a woman who still works at the potteries, at Wedgwood, in the very small design and decoration studio in Barlaston...which has replaced the huge workshops that there before all the pottery shakeups, consolidations and closures as production was moved out of the UK.
She is a decorator, and as an industry worker, has begun collecting the salesman or pottery paint sample plates used for the colors sold to the potteries for their china.
C J Baines in Fenton...another district of Stoke, made this in 1959...it is fascinating to see the colours and think that's how designs were planned.
Wengers, Ltd. was another painter manufacturer. These examples are from the Gladstone Pottery Museum, and shows the various hues that were used on transferware and other designs...there were certainly different versions of blue transferware!
This is a Spode sample plate...no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, it shows the difference a certain glaze made on the color of the transfer of theis Italian Scenes plate before and after the final firing in the kiln. The right side is definitely more vivid in color. Photos of the sample plates by permission Rosie Cooke and Phil Rowley. They have also a few marked ones from Mintons, Dudson, Spode, Royal Doulton etc. which were, I think to show as samples or to try/test various colours and prints. Now that's an interesting collection!
Tea...by James Tissot
Thanks for joining me today for Tuesday Cuppa Tea, and I hope you have some last-of-summer opportunities for a relaxing cup of tea with a friend!
Below is the list of some of the blog
parties I will be part of and there is the linky for your tea related
posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are
patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to
visit!
Hi
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this Tea party every week. I love the fabulous information and beautiful tea cups you display.
Joyously,
Betty @ My Cozy Corner
Thanks for sharing all your history and information with us, Ruth. Your teacup is so pretty, and I love the deer, also. The white blueberry tea sounds delightful, and on that I'd love to try. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHi Ruth,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating post! Wonderful cup and saucer and of course Spode is always a favourite. I don't see your linky so I will come back later. Have a lovely day.
Blessings,
Sandi
Ruth, I'm not seeing the linky. Thanks for sharing about the different painting manufacturers. My MIL was a china painter and had her own kiln. It was fun to watch the magic happen when she painted and fired china.
ReplyDeleteJocelyn
Thanks for hosting and sharing the fascinating info about pottery paint. Touring English potteries is definitely on my bucket list!
ReplyDeleteHi Ruth: Always a learning experience to visit. Love the colors on todays cup. Have a wonderful week. Blessings, Martha
ReplyDeleteI loved the teacup before I saw the name on the bottom. My mother's name is Susie Cooper so I must find one of those for my collection !
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post on china. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA fascinating post, Ruth! I've never heard of Susie Cooper, but I do love what you show of her work and the variety of marks are fab. The deer mark has the look of a vintage Christmas card to me. The behind the scenes look at the potteries of the past is also amazing. So tragic how so many closed up and left for China. What a legacy they might have stewarded had they stayed. We've lost so much of that in the states, too. I'm glad to be posting a tea related story this week--and trying to get back to weekly posts in general.
ReplyDeleteJoy to you!
Kathy
The salesman samples are really neat. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteRuth, I'd love to visit the potteries! I have a genetic love of china and tea!
ReplyDelete