lucky finds and collections expanding

i really adore the table settings in japanese blogs i come across. trays, various shapes, colors in light and dark, hard and soft surfaces; wood, fabric, pottery, glass, all elements of displaying a meal. i felt like sewing a coaster for my tea kyusu to add the sense of softness and a touch of color to my teaware collection; which was starting to become lacking in both. i didn't want to overcrowd the pottery with too much color, but this linen swatch pairs very well.

i also scored three lovely pieces at a church rummage sale the other day; an oval and faceted cup, a cherry bark loose tea scoop, and a glazed stoneware bowl. it's the best five dollars i've spent in awhile.

a little wonky in shape, but it fits the hands well, and would be a great mug for smaller portions such as gyokuro tea.

inlays of smaller grained sections of bark, a classic gourd shape. i couldn't believe my luck for spotting this little treasure! sometimes larger pieces done in cherry bark can be a little much, and you loose sense of the details, but this is a perfect amount to gaze at and appreciate.

green, black, and brown glazes layered between white; it's reminiscent of marble almost. it could have been created for the japanese tea ceremony, as the shape and size is like that of other matcha tea bowls i've seen.

a theme

i tend towards blues, creams, and browns in pottery. i don't think i do this with a specific purpose; more an inclination towards those hues. red is my least favorite color, followed by orange, but i do like pink rather a lot. primary and secondary hues aren't really my cup of tea (outside of yellow), they are just too strong and bright when used other than as an accent hue. tertiary hues and pastels though, those are lovely. give me a yellow-green, blue-purple, blue-green, or red-purple any day and i'm a happy kid. whites and creams allow me to admire the green shades of my tea, one of the nicest parts of drinking it. an explanation for the celedon color would be it's traditional, so you come across it a lot.

my collection of tea preparing pieces (clockwise from top left): bamboo chasen with celedon stand, tokoname kyusu, stoneware chawan for matcha, water cooler (my grandmother's), tea cup for sencha, hand thrown tea cup for bancha, tea chest in the upper right corner, chakin in lower right corner, teaspoon in lower left corner. it's a mishmash of pieces, i know, but i like each one and they make me happy (the only one i have to impress is myself, any how).