Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Kitsch or Kewl?

I can't decide if this wabbit fambly tea set is cute-and-collectible or just gawdy-but-good-for-a-giggle. 

It was a gift from somebody who figured I needed more tea sets for my collection, so I'm loathe to throw it out.  It's a complete set - teapot, creamer, sugar bunny, 4 cups, saucers and little spoons.  Momma wabbit's head comes off, as does sugar bunny. 

It gave me a great chuckle when I unwrapped the box, and I do love bunny wabbits, but could I actually leave it out and serve tea with it?  I dunno, whaddya think ... kitsch or kewl?

Crack-Me-Up Teapots

While searching for cups on the net, I ran across Andy Titcomb's hilarious teapots. 

These on the right are the Toddler Teapots.  Aren't they a hoot?? If I had muy ducets I'd prolly become a teapot collector.  I just love kitschy stuff like this.

They're a little (a lot!) out of my price range - the one I really want is this cutey little dormouse teapot, but £75.00 translates to about $150 I think. Holy cats.

And at that price I'd be afraid to use it. 

An Unusual Talent

People are so wonderfully creative.  Susan Stockwell, UK artist, specializes in ... well... many things, but at the top of the list I would put "creative use of unusual materials".  And she uses a lot of coffee and tea, which I think is just grand!

Check out these exceptionally cool items:

This goes in the category of "dress work" - the train of this life-sized dress was stitched together from used coffee filters.  The dress itself is coffee stained waxed paper cups, sewn together. 

Pretty amazing.  And if you ever run out of coffee filters... no, I guess you wouldn't want to pilfer from this piece of art.

She's also fashioned a beautiful Victorian style dress (can I borrow this for an afternoon tea party?) made out of old maps of the British Isles.

She does a lot of map-art.  Stuff made out of maps.  Maps made out of ... stuff.

In addition to this map of India, made entirely of tea bags stitched together, she's got several versions of the world:  here is a map of the world, painted with coffee on coffee filter paper and here's the world painted with tea on tea bag paper.  Here's a map made with a tea stain.  And here's a map of the America's made with coffee filters glued together. 

Cool stuff. 

Check out her website: http://www.susanstockwell.co.uk/

found via Gadling, the travelers weblog

Yule Fuel

Chocolate Friday: Edible Art

I'm not sure, but I think chocolate art would create a serious war in my senses.  Too many desires going on at once.  Do I keep it to look at, carry it around to smell it, or just munch away? 

Lillie Belle Farms, an actual farm/estate in Oregon complete with tasting room, produces completely edible chocolate art.  Fully eat-able, from top to bottom, back to front.  The tree shown here is one of Lillie Belle Farms' chocolate sculptures created for the Oregon Chocolate festival, made from chocolate and sugar.

And have a look at their chocolate paintings.  Even the frames are edible! Created by Chocolatier Jeff Shepherd, the paintings are 6" x4" with white chocolate canvases, dark chocolate frames, and cocoa butter paint.

I was thinking about trying to do some chocolate artwork myself, but ... I don't know if I could keep my mouth away from the medium.  What joy to do some fingerpainting, tho, eh?

Death Before Decaf

I love this!  From Another Tattoo.  And no, I don't mean I'd love to have this tattooed across my backside.  Although, hmmm, come to think of it, if I WAS going to get a tattoo, this would be perfect.  Heh.  This design is sold there as gift cards or t-shirt.

Coffee Colors

Does this qualify as coffee porn?  Does it even qualify as coffee art?  Well, hey, art is in the eye of the behinder, and it's MY behind, so hell yeah it's art.  Heheh.  Just wanted to share what I do in the mornings when I'm not quite awake --  take pictures of my favorite cup holding my favorite thing - coffee!  I really loved the colors,

And just a smidgy closer...

More on Flickr

Old Man Drinking Coffee

This offering, in honor of Father's Day (although I realize most fathers aren't old men, heheh) for our coffee drinking dads  - Old Man Drinking Coffee, drawing from the Vincent van Gogh Gallery.

Happy Pater's Day!

Teeny Tiny Tea Stuff

These itty bitty tea sets are not for serving tea.  They're adornment!  KittyFisher.com.au has, among other things, these cute little tea-themed brooches, earrings and necklaces, all in the shape of teeny tiny tea-ware. 

It looks like there are two basic designs - strawberries and forget-me-nots.  For the rest of this month they're offering to contribute to the Cancer Council for each sale of the teacup brooch shown here, so I may have to start with the forget-me-not brooch and earrings. 

The complete tea-theme jewelry collection is here.  All prices are in Aussie dollars, so here's a converter tool.  The $20 for the forget-me-not brooch translates to 15.31 'merrycan, which makes it pretty cheap considering they're also offering free shipping.

Cups & Shadows

The simple minded are easily entertained . . .