Bow Bells & Blue Willow

Uncharacteristically understated, here are two recently-completed pieces from my backlog of groutables.
Bow Bells is a very popular, and pricey, brown and white transferware pattern made by Masons in England. If you can find it on eBay, you will pay for it. It makes a nice lazy susan paired with powder blue shards, antique white grout, and metallic copper paint on the edge and bottom.


I'm not a big fan of Blue Willow (blame the saturated market), but many people are. I will say that this vase is quite striking, especially when viewed from a distance, due to the nice contrast and symmetry in the shape.

I'd never used a teacup around a vase neck before, but this works. The blue aventurine beads look perfect with the china pattern, and the cobalt blue teapot was so cooperative, breaking in all the right places for perfect attaching.

The abalone butterfly brooch was a "making lemonade" addition.
As I went to grout the vase, I saw that a tiny "v"-shaped chip had come off the top. The crack did not run, luckily, and it was a very clean break, confined to just the rim.
After all the time and materials put into this thing, I was so not going to chuck it.

So I grouted it, silver leafed the inside top, and went through my accoutrement stash to find something suitable for hiding the chip.
It totally works!