Finding a way to take ownership of the physical space of your Learning Centre can be a fun and warming activity. At WISH, we only have a temporary space loaned to us that we dismantle every night. So we decided to decorate what we could!
A pot of tea has always been a sign of welcome to women. After we broke our previous teapot, we decided to get a big, plain pot and cups and paint them ourselves. Everyone had a good time doing this. Some women took their cups home and others left them at WISH to be used by everyone.
The teapot continues to be a source of discussion -it says WISH and is painted in red and yellow flowers.
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Everyone will have their own ideas and designs for the teapot and mugs. Markers would be quite easy to use although more expensive than the paints. We used paints and learned to use a dry brush (everyone is tempted to put their brush in water first) and not to use too much paint. Some of our designs “sagged” because of this.
Also, don’t paint the inside of the cups or teapot. The manufacturer warned against the paint coming in contact with food.
When the painting is completed, you need to fire the teapot and cups in a household oven for 30 minutes. This may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, so be sure to get someone to read the instructions.
On the manufacturer’s website, they also recommended that many ceramic materials cannot withstand sudden changes in temperature, so place your piece in a room temperature oven and allow it to warm up with the oven. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off and allow it to cool back to room temperature gradually.
Suggested design starters: flowers, names, stripes, sponging effect, sayings Women continue to comment on the colours and designs of these pieces. They are a sharp contrast to the institutional and second hand look of the regular mugs that are used in the Drop In.