High Tea

Size H: 9″ W: 8″ D: 8″  Edition Size: 19

“High Tea” is based upon the concept of a High Tea where ladies gather to share tea in pretty porcelain cups and enjoy culinary delights and conversation while dressed elegantly. I imagined a much different ‘high tea’ where the teacup itself is taller than normal and made of elegantly decorated pottery, and the culinary delights are two plump strawberries. It is being enjoyed outside on a lovely day.  Best of all, the guest at the tea party is a little hummingbird.

The teacup and saucer aren’t perfect, as they were sculpted by hand and not on a wheel, and the decorations were sculpted in wax to make the teacup unique and fit the story.  The sugar cubes were blocks of clay textured to look like sugar, and the strawberries were clay and wax. The patina was selected to give the impression of pottery, and the patineur knocked it out of the ballpark making those strawberries look almost good enough to eat! And the “Lady Gray” tea tag was because I couldn’t think of a more fitting choice given the title. That was a piece of cardboard covered with clay and stamped with the letters.