dotty dishes, geeky mugs, snowballs and rainballs
January 31st, 2010
I painted this with Katrina when I was in Omaha, on Day 1 of 7 Days last month. I had hoped that the colors would be even more muted, but oh well. I still like it. Michelle saw the photo on Flickr and she liked it too, so we met her in Encinitas for lunch.
Michelle has been one of my best Etsy customers for a long time, and she happens to live in SoCal. I suggested that she could save on the cost of shipping if we met for lunch and I just brought the mug to her, so that’s what we did. It was great to finally meet her!
Heather painted this mug when we all went painting when Lauren was in town, and I love how it turned out. It fascinates me how everyone’s dottery is unique. We’re all using the wrong end of the paintbrush, yet each person’s patterns are slightly different. Very cool how that works.
Okay, my inner geek is showing. The story behind this mug is kind of long. You can read more about it here; it helps if you’re a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan.
Captain Picard on ST:TNG used to order tea from the replicator all the time by barking out, “Tea, Earl Grey. Hot.” Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on the show, is a famous blogger now and is selling mugs with this on them to promote a podcast he’s doing with commentaries/reviews of early ST:TNG episodes. Lauren told me about all this, and said she wanted to paint her own version of the mug. I thought it was a brilliant idea and wanted one too, except I hate Earl Grey tea. So I changed the last word on mine to “not.”
Here is the mug Lauren painted. I especially love the little Star Trek symbol she drew above her signature on the bottom.
I just realized I never got a photo of the first two dishes Lauren painted. Something was weird about the bisque or the glaze, and they turned a strange green color in the kiln. The pottery studio gave her a credit for the cost of the dishes and she painted these three to replace them. The one in the middle is for Lauren’s Japanese sister-in-law; I believe that’s her name on there. The other two are for Lauren and her mum.
Lauren had the idea for a mug that said, “I knit so I don’t kill people,” but she was so busy with her Earl Grey mug and the dotty dishes that she hadn’t even started painting it by the time Brenda finished her plate and had nothing to do. When she asked if anyone had something for her to do, Lauren asked if she wanted to paint this mug for her. Brenda painted all of it except the last part of the scarf. Her hand got tired so I finished the scarf, including painting it into the inside of the mug and adding the tassels.
Good thing I enjoyed crocheting all those rainballs for Bug’s party, because Claire H. saw them, remembered that she’d intended to order some snowballs from me last year, and asked if would like to crochet her some of each. I said I’d love to, since it gave me a reason to watch a few episodes of Dr. Who on Netflix Instant, both of which I’m loving. Thanks for that, Claire! Your snowballs and rainballs are in my shop whenever you’re ready
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Wow! You’ve been busy! I love it when you share your creations (and your friends’ creations). The knitting mug is adorable!
I’m drinking coffee out of the dottery mug you painted for me back in May 2008. I use it almost every day :-)
I love that the knitting mug was such a collaboration. What a special momento of Lauren’s trip!
I love it all…of course :)
Oh, that makes me want to start knitting just so I can justify having an awesome mug like that!
I love your dottery. :)
How can you not like Earl Grey Tea?! You probably leave the tea bag in there too long.
Anyways… I still like you. :)
I love the be mellow mug. Oooh and your new banner. <3
I can honestly say that I never tire of seeing your dottery. I love the small plates too!
I love those muted green mugs – so pretty!
And I know an Austrian who likes Earl Grey, so maybe it’s a continental taste?
I love those plates!! Very cool!! I also love the knitting mug. That made me smile!
Hi I’m a star trek fan too, I’m going to go check out Wil Wheaton’s blog while I’m at it. But hey, what kind of paint do you use on those dishes, I wanted to do something like that years ago but I didn’t know how to get started, is it okay to use the regular ceramic paint or acrylic paint at the dollar shop or do you need a specific kind of paint and is it okay to use on the kinds of dishes and glasses you can get at the dollar shop? Also, I looked down at those cupcakes and I’ve got to say they look to die for, have you maybe sent the recipe to that show on the food network “Guys big Bite” with that Fietti guy? I think he’d love it and you’d definitely get a mention. Thanks for sharing the recipe :)
I made some balls for my blog and give a link to your Etsy shop. My crochet balls are not as pretty as yours. Hope you will have a peek. Guess, you don’t mind the link to the shop!
all of those pieces are lovely, i especially like the dishes, and the knitting mug made me smile – great detail having the scarf go inside it…
They look fantastic I must try to make one once I’ve finished all the other projects that I have in progress at the moment.