Looking for plain ceramic tea cup

[PamEast]

I'm a silver artist and I got this idea to make myself a silver embellished ceramic tea set. My plan is to make a pretty spoon, 3 minute timer and ceramic tea cup. Not quite ready to tackle a tea pot.

I've got no problem with the spoon and timer, but I'm not a ceramic artist so I'd need to buy a very plain cup I can embellish. I'd need to be able to fire it to 1250F (677C). I'm actually not sure if I need glazed or unglazed. I can embellish either one, but since I'm relatively new to tea I'm not sure what would be best for drinking from. I drink mostly black tea.

To give you an idea of the kind of work I do, here's a couple of examples.

The first is a small horse-hair raku pot I did with a ceramic artist a few years back. It's tiny, measuring only about two inches tall. I still don't know how he threw a pot that small! Obviously on a drinking cup I'd place the embellishment out of the way of the lip of the cup.

Horsehair Raku with fine silver embellishment

horsehair-raku-sm.JPG (8.27 KiB) Viewed 1079 times

This one is a poured bisque ornament I purchased unglazed. I glazed it myself and did the silver work.

Glazed bisque ornament with fine silver leaves

Ornament.jpg (11.52 KiB) Viewed 1079 times

Does anyone have a suggestion for what type of cup to get and where to get it? I'll be happy to either purchase or trade artistry!

Pam

[britt]

Very interesting work!

I don't know anything about making ceramics or working with silver but I have seen examples of Chinese Yixing teapots and cups that are made from unglazed clay and adorned with silver. Some of these were antique and some were modern. It might make sense, since there is already a history of Yixing clay with silver work attached, to consider starting there.

Unglazed Yixing cups are fairly common but I'm not personally very familiar with which vendors to purchase them from. Hopefully another Tea Chat member can give you that info.

Here's a couple of links to examples of Yixing unglazed teapots with silver decoration on them. These examples are fairly simple; I have also seen some Yixings that were so heavily adorned with silver that they looked really cheap.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/v ... =12s83k9fe

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/v ... =12s83k9fe

Example of simple, unglazed clay Yixing cup from TChing (currently out of stock) that may be similar to what you're looking for:

http://www.tchingstore.com/index.php?ma ... 843af770b9

[theory]

Oh my, those are lovely! Those Leaves! Wow, you are talented. I hope you will share pictures of your work when you are done

Here is a picture I lifted off bonanzle of an embellished jade gaiwan. I think a ceramic gaiwan might be a really neat project. For those, I believe glazed is preferred.

5332.gif (59.61 KiB) Viewed 958 times

Again, thanks for sharing your pictures!

[PamEast]

Britt and Theory,

Thank you for the links and photos! I'm just barely beginning to educate myself on the huge variety of teaware out there.

I just ordered a couple of very plain white glazed ceramic Gaiwan's and cups. They looked like they would lend themselves to the type of embellishment I want to do. I have this idea for using Ginkgo leaves...

I can hardly wait to get started on the project, but unfortunately, since the teaware is coming from China it will be a while before I get them.

Tea teaches patience, right?

Pam

[britt]

I just ordered a couple of very plain white glazed ceramic Gaiwan's and cups. They looked like they would lend themselves to the type of embellishment I want to do. I have this idea for using Ginkgo leaves...

I can hardly wait to get started on the project, but unfortunately, since the teaware is coming from China it will be a while before I get them.

Tea teaches patience, right?

Pam

The gingko leaves sound like a great idea.

Delivery from China can be very erratic. I've received packages via airmail in anywhere from 5 days to 6 weeks.

Tea does seem to teach patience, especially when using a gaiwan!

[Chip]

Very cool work, Pam. I hope you will post more of your craft!