Thread: aging teacups?

Tweet

Here are some examples of how stain can make stuff look nasty... lol







Pretty much everything in our kitchen was covered in stain... including the walls!

Can't wait to see how your teacups come out!
.

Wow, that is nasty, FRF! And for simulating blood, the red stain's tranluscence is perfect.

Started messing with a china saucer this morning befoire going to work. Steel wool doesn't seem to phase it noticeably, so switched to 120 grit sandpaper which definitely scratched the glaze. The porcelain torture will continue tonight.

Okay, the tea cups have been thoroughly tortured...BRU, HA, HA, HAAA!! I used both 120 grit and 80 grit sandpaper in both a radial motion from the saucer center and in a circular motion about the center. Same type of abuse for the tea cups. The glaze is tough; but the metal trim is fairly easy to wear down, which I did non uniformly. Some areas of the saucer and cup seem easier to scratch than others, and you get a feel for it after doing one setting. I used the light reflected off the dishes to check the amount of scratching being done. The porcelain and the stoneware were about the same level of difficulty. After getting some good scratches for the paint to adhere to, I rubbed nutmeg brown acrylic paint into the inside of the cup with a paper towel to simulate tea stains. I especially liked how that came out. I then used a little nutmeg but more of a medium gray acrylic on the outside of the cup plus the saucer. I plan on spraying them next with clear gloss sealer to lock in the coloring. My album has a photo of one tea cup & saucer as purchased, and a couple shots of the three settings "aged". The main thing is Gromit05 says she's happy with the outcome.

I also tried to do a controlled chipping of the extra porcelain saucer I had. But even using a nail and supporting block of wood for the saucer, plus working on an extreme edge of the dish, resulted in more of a chop than a chip. I opted to pass on that feature for the keepers.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

sounds like it turned out well. would love to see some pics!

Looks like that worked well for you. Thanks for letting us know the results.
I'm thinking about just drinking coffee out of mine all morning and then not washing it! No really, I am thinking about sanding them down like you did but then putting coffee in the cup and letting it soak in. Maybe some drips down the side (I may need to use the paint for that) and dripped onto the saucer.

Originally Posted by Scry

sounds like it turned out well. would love to see some pics!

Hey Scry. Just click on my user ID, select View Public Profile from the drop down menu, then click open my album. I''ve got one shot of a cup and saucer as purchased, and a couple shots of aged ones. Sorry, I'm not the forum photo person in the household. But let me know if you have trouble seeing them and I'll see what else I can do (or actually ask my wife to do).

Originally Posted by Rikki

Looks like that worked well for you. Thanks for letting us know the results.
I'm thinking about just drinking coffee out of mine all morning and then not washing it!

Ha! Sounds like a great way to avoid washing at least some dishes.

here are demon Dogs pics of the cups:

before: Halloween Forum - Demon Dog's Album: Perish Hall Cemetery - Picture
after: Halloween Forum - Demon Dog's Album: Perish Hall Cemetery - Picture

looking good, I bet the inside looks as good as the outside!!

Thanks Scry. Here's some more photos, including the insides. For some reason I had a dickens of a time getting shots that were in focus (and I wasn't even photographing after happy hour ). These better show the final results.

On one cup I let a watered down paint simply dry up.


A pocelain cup & saucer, a little blurry but you can get the gist of how it looks.


The stoneware cup (and actually in focus!).