Thursday 17 March 2016

Anyone For a Cup of Tea

Hi everybody! It's Toni here and it's my turn to put together another one of our Inspirational Posts. Rather than showcasing a particular product or technique, I've decided to show you how I went about altering this cup and saucer. It also fits in rather well, with our current 'Spring is In The Air' challenge. So grab a cuppa' and I'll get started.....
I've got a few china cups and saucers that are very pretty but in our household, pretty useless, as we are all confirmed mug users. I thought it was time to experiment, this is my cup and saucer before I set to......
I've not altered any glazed china before, but my crafting instincts told me to firstly give it a coat of matte medium. Once this was dry, I collaged the surface of both the cup and saucer with torn up sheet music paper using more matte medium ......
I then painted over the surface with  Antique Linen Distress Paint, not too thickly, as I wanted the music to show through.... no photo as this is the stage where I started to get engrossed !
Whilst the cup and saucer were drying, I stamped out some images on tissue, using black Versa Mark Ink. Most of the stamps I used are from an Indigo Blu set called Live, Laugh, Love. I think these are amongst my most inked stamps. I used the same set for my project for our current challenge.
I also stenciled this group of words with Wendy Vecchi's Gold Embossing Paste, onto a piece of deli paper. This embossing paste is wonderfully gold when dry, you wouldn't realise it when you see it in the jar, but it dries to a really shiny finish. I cut around several of the images and tried out a few placements, working on the saucer first. Once I'd got an idea of what I wanted I used matte medium to attach the tissue images to the surface. Carefully smoothing the tissue using a dabbing motion with soft brush .... quite a sticky process hence the lack of photos! I applied the cut out words in the way. Once every thing was dry, I did a little light tinting of the images with Wendy Vecchi Archival inks.I also painted the handle of the cup using a gold leaf pen.
I then gave everything a  coat of Deco Art Ultra Matte Varnish in order to seal the surface before applying Deco Art Crackle Glaze. To enhance the crackles I used black Antiquing fluid and buffed the surface with a soft cloth.
I used the gold leaf pen to highlight the rim of the cup and saucer.
As you can see, lots of lovely little crackles !My finishing touch was to construct the nest and make the little eggs. A trip into the garden supplied me with some dead grasses and leaves which I swirled together. I used more matte medium to hold the nest together. The faux moss is something I bought a while ago from Hobby Craft.
I made the eggs with Silk Clay and painted them with Distress Paints. I added a little word token to the edge to complete my alteration. I know I always say this, but this was a lot of fun to do and I'm really pleased with my 'Spring Is In the Air'  altered cup and saucer. I hope this may inspire you to have a go at altering some crockery, I'd love to see it if you do ....and don't forget our 'Spring Is In The Air' challenge is open and awaiting your project ! x

22 comments:

  1. What a really unique piece, it has turned out beautifully. Great work x

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  2. Wow! a stunning altered project you have achieved so much detail and the result is gorgeous and a complete transformation. Thank you for sharing and inspiring.
    MaggieH

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  3. oh my goodness Toni - this is so very stunning - I love love love it! Beautiful xx

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  4. I absolutely loved reading the blog post today. Fantastic project, lots of work but you looked like you had so much fun doing it. I am amazed how it started and how it end...fabulous!

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  5. Oh my gosh Toni! I cannot believe how well this turned out. The crackle is tremendous and the stamp choice was perfect! Gorgeous!!!

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  6. THIS IS AMAZING (all in caps)! I stumbled across your blog rather randomly and was blown away by this teacup revamp! Holy cow! What a lucky little teacup to get such a stunning make-over! I am really impressed with how you transformed this and gave it a cool vintage vibe, but kept it fresh and modern with the sweet little birdie. Love that nest, too! Just wanted to let you know how inspiring I found this piece to be!

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  7. OMG, Toni, this is beyond stunning! It turned out perfectly! LOVE it!

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  8. Stunning makeover, Toni - wow!
    Alison x

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  9. Absolutely stunning Toni ! I love the tissue stamping and the gold embossing paste is marvellous ! The crackle has to be the perfect touch coupled with the gold rim. Sue C x

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  10. I just love how you redid this china teacup Toni - the images, gold rims and crackle are just beautiful! Julia xx

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  11. This is so beautiful, Toni. Love how you made a little home for the bird. The cracks are such a pretty accent here. Am running to find a chipped cup now! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  12. What an incredible transformation Toni, the cup and saucer are absolute stunners, who would have thought that china would cover so well! Gorgeous work, fabulous result, I am definitely going to try this technique, thanks so much for the wonderful inspiration! Anne xx

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  13. Utterly AWESOME Toni!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE the way you've transformed the teacup from something you'd shove in the back of the cupboard to a real display treasure. The gold lettering works perfectly with your stamping and I love the crackle and nest. Thank you so much for sharing x

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  14. I am just blown away! I would never have used the tea cup and saucer, we're mug huggers too, and I have a terrible fear of breaking something that may be loved by someone else. You've got me wanting to get to a charity shop so that I can alter something just like this. It's amazing, awesome and so very clever and then some. Thank you for sharing how you did it too Karen x

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  15. What a fabulous alteration Toni x Love the outcome.......looks totally amazing

    TFS and best wishes
    Annie x

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  16. Such an inspirational project Toni!!! I love the transformation of your tea cup. :)

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  17. What an inspirational piece this is Toni, congrats on a fabulous altered cup and a great post. Photo has been pinned! xx

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  18. Amazing, stunning, exquisite, one of the best transformations I've seen. LOVE this Toni!!! Hugs Ruth xx

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  19. Beautiful transformation! Love those birdies and crackles! Gorgeous!

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