Not My Cup of Tea

(To view full post, you may need to click blog title and read in your browser.)

I'm always wanting to do a series of prints and/or collages showcasing tea in some way. Sadly, none of my ideas have ever developed into anything satisfying. Here's one that started off promising:

I had so many patterned papers - some my own prints and also origami and found papers - and the cup as a simple graphic shape appealed to me.

It was enjoyable coordinating the patterned papers! I also experiemented with three cups:

And a square card with two cups:

A bit of back story here. I used graph paper to get a symmetrical shape for the cup.

And I used a hole punch to create the handle. The punched out bits were a possibility for the dot I like to add to finish off the piece. I also made a viewfinder and went on the hunt through my mountains of paper for possibilities.

One of the reasons this series didn't go anywhere is because I collaged whole cups, gluing one on top of the other. This made for a thick, unbalanced card. (I had to use a rock to weigh down the cards to lie flat for these photographs!) Plus, all the various grains of the different papers and the substrate were at odds with each other, creating even more lumpiness in the finished card. Back then, I didn't realize that was the problem. Armed with a bit of hindsight, the other day I gave it another go. First, I stacked the cups. And played around with getting each cup nestled into the one below.

With the original try, I know part of the problem was I didn't set the cups deep enough - they had a sort of floating look to them. But I also had to remember these chunky cups would have a thickness to them and that had to be apparent in the stacking. I saw them as pottery rather than fine china so the wall of the cup would be substantial.

So this second time around I worked on getting a good stack. Then I marked where each mug slid into the one blow, and cut off the excess. 

I'd like to report this made all the difference - and it did. Somewhat...

I prefer three cups - four made the composition a bit crowded - and the card laid much flatter. I did go with a smaller dot - the hole punch piece seemed too much. But I go back and forth on that decision. There is a pull to use the big dot.

However, as is often the case, there is a past due date on some ideas. I discovered stacking patterned paper cups no longer fascinated me! But I did enjoy the second try - there is always something to be learned looking back at old work. 

Next post, plan to be deep into a new project! See you then! As always, thank you for following my art adventure!