Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

    Here is a chinaware pattern which was very popular in the 1970's. It is Acapulco by Villeroy and Boch and as a young 20+year old way back then , I loved this . It is perhaps not as spectacular on a small egg cup as it is on a dinner plate, but I think its colourful boho joy is still retained.  It was fun to sketch this , particularly as I cut the top of the egg to make it more interesting. How do you like your eggs - soft or hard boiled? 

  For Day 4 , I chose three egg cups with similar shaped flowers... and the touches of red and yellow really complement all those blues of the precious days.    And for Day 5, one of my favourites and one of the oldest in my collection of eggcups with legs .  Do you prefer the traditional egg cup shapes of the novelty ones? Watch this space - more unusual egg cups will follow.... 

For Day 3 #the100dayproject, I stacked and sketched a few of the egg cups on the shelf  .... The one almost toppling over is one of the favourites in my collection. It is from the  "Blue Calico"  collection by Burleigh Pottery,  proudly making earthenware since 1851, based at Middleport Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent since 1889. England.  Inspired by 19th-century indigo fabrics, Burleigh’s  Blue Calico  tableware range brings quintessential country charm to your home. The rich cobalt blue tones and scrolling blossom design complement both casual family dining and special occasions alike from the Burleigh website  Some of the others featured today are also special  hand painted egg cups . One is vintage handpainted  Delftware or  most likely an imitation as it doesn't have the usual Delft pottery mark. On the side not shown is a Dutch windmill scene.  The  bottom one in the stack has no marks and I can't remember where I got it from.  It has a stencilled pattern.  The one l

Some of the most recognisable classic china is blue and white... I am lucky to have a Cornishware blue and white striped egg cup  and today it is featured in my #the100dayproject as a paper cut out.  It sits nicely with yesterday's Willow pattern egg cup and with a stylised blue bird egg cup of unknown origin.  Here is the story of the blue and white striped china which today has had a contemporary makeover.... I still like the 1920/30's design! T.G. Green was founded by Thomas Goodwin Green back in 1864. He had returned from Australia having made his fortune and discovered the pottery in Derbyshire while on his honeymoon in Scarborough with wife Mary. One of the company’s most popular lines was always Cornishware, which was first produced in 1924.The stripes were created using a lathe-turning technique that scraped blue slip away from its beautiful ceramics to reveal white bands of clay beneath. Those distinctive stripes reminded a factory employee of the blue skies and white-

  The 100 Day Project is  a free, global art project . Every year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of exploring their creativity. Anyone can join. The idea is simple: choose a project, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process on Instagram with the hashtag #The100DayProject... Brochure from the Cressida Campbell exhibition , National Art Gallery  This year I am going to make 10 mixed media art folding books as it is the 10th year of #the100dayproject. In the weeks preceding this starting date, I changed my plans a number of times. I first thought of making some books on themes and then last week I went to see an amazing exhibition of woodcut prints by Cressida Campbell. One of the brochures I picked up at the exhibition suggested an exercise of drawing things from a collection on a shelf. It so happens that I collect egg cups ... When I discussed the idea of making folding books  opening out as if viewing  items on s shelf ,  my friends thought th

 Coinciding with Valentine's Day, Tag Tuesday's current theme is "Love/Hearts" .  My tag is inspired by the song:  … What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone … This tag features a postage stamp issued in 1995 by Australia Post to mark Valentine's Day. The rest of the tag involved some fussy cutting from old magazine pages and a few little "doll buttons". So simple but I hope it conveys the message.

Solitary Tea #07 - Wilma Simmons 2023   A single tea cup is often the subject of my textile art work. Yes, I do like tea, especially teas like White Jasmine and Buddha's Tears, and I am interested in the history and all that surrounds the subject of tea.  I particularly love this poem by a classical Chinese poet, Wang Wei:  Softly closing the chamber door Alone I await you in the empty room.  You never came .  Disappointed I drink solitary tea.  Solitary Tea #06 - Wilma Simmons 2023  Combining the techniques of photo transfer onto fabric and collage, I created these vignettes in the last week. They are interpretations of the poem and I hope they convey the simple economy of expression of the poem.  Solitary Tea #05 - Wilma Simmons 2023  Previously, I have interpreted the poem, using actual tea bags in the works and featuring my great grandmother as the narrator of the poem.   Tea Cup :Solitary Tea #03 - Wilma Simmons 2021 Blue Interlude with Tea : Solitary Tea #01 - Wilma Simmons 2