The Teacups Story

It was Sunday afternoon and I was strolling through the arcades next to the castle, this admirable medieval Victorian mansion. It was warm, sunny and bright and I was listening to Calm down by Rema . I like walking alone, travelling with my thoughts.

As an actress, people watching and being really observant has always been an instinctual part of my life. Saying that, I noticed next to the strawberry stall a very old man struggling to carry these cardboard boxes to his wooden stall.

I approached him and offered my help while already picking up some colourful blankets that fell on the ground.

We slowly moved all the boxes to his stall and started chatting about those colourful blankets.

My wife knits them! He exclaimed with pride.

His enthusiasm put a smile on my face and that began our conversation. - Carol knits beautifully in the evenings with one of the most expensive fabrics, cashmere!

The detail and the designs were truly astonishing. He usually joins her while he hand draws with pencil, dog portraits.

What an artistic couple! I thought to myself. I could not help myself and started asking this man so many questions! We were honestly having a lovely conversation. So what's in the boxes? My curious self asked after some time. - Teacups! I didn't know what I was expecting but I guess it wasn't that. He then began to tell me how him and his wife would go to auctions as a mutual hobby. They were both retired with nothing to do and loved to spend time doing different activities. They one day heard about this auction in town and decided to stop by. The auction they happened to go to was an antique and vintage collectibles one.

And here is where the teacups come into our story.. In the 18th century, English potters in London were mixing mixtures to make porcelain so they could create their designs. The porcelain was coming out very soft resulting their creations to break and not be durable. They then discovered that when adding bone ash (due to the calcium phosphate from the bone) made the porcelain stronger and long -lasting. They named it Bone China and it is the strongest of the porcelain, having very high mechanical and physical strength.

After chatting about the stories and origins of Bone China's porcelain he started showing me all these beautiful flamboyant teacups. I was mesmerized, not only from the magical designs but by the fact these were once made and used by the people of London, centuries ago. ~ I saw them and instantly saw a family sitting on the porch having peppermint tea.

A mother having her morning tea before the preparation of lunch...and so many more tales.

- These are some lovely stories! But why are you now selling all of your collections? I asked.

- My wife and I are both retired for years now, we have no children to pass these to and we want them (the teacups) to go to good use and not sit on our living room shelfs aimlessly. -I MAKE CANDLES! I excitedly gasped. I showed him some pictures and he loved them! I explained my idea to pour soy wax and make scented candles with the teacups and he adored it. He was happy the teacups would eventually decorate someone's living room filling it with rich smells and then after the wax melted serving as an actual teacup.

It was extremely hard to pick the designs but I picked every teacup I was drawn to and I was drawn to many... Worth it!

This is the first I ever made! It's pure soy wax with no dye, smelling like green apple. I wanted my first to be exactly like he told me to make it.

And this is the story of the teacups!

It was a nice day and I only wished I asked for his name.

Delphine Bone China Yellow Rose pattern trio Issued c.1950 Made in England Made with pure soybean wax; smelling like fresh mangoes