April is a beautiful time of year with spring upon us and my birthday celebration. The table setting is blue and white with pink accents.
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| Final Table Setting with Tea Set on the Tea Cart |
The DIY tea tray made from a white picture frame with Blue Willow paper napkins, handles, and feet was a fun project. The silk flowers are from Amazon and Hobby Lobby, and I found the ladies on ebay. I thought the figurines were Geishas, but I found out otherwise. As you can see, they are not wearing the traditional kimonos with the obi sashes. Instead, they have on long silky robes belted with fine ropes. The figure on the right has a conical garden hat draped over her back, and the one on the left has a "fly whisk" traditionally made from horsetail hair in her right hand. The whisk and straw hat were traditionally Chinese, so I assume the ladies were Chinese "Ming" courtesans. After more research, I learned that the Japanese Geisha Girl was derived from the Ming Courtesans. I love the way they look on the tray regardless of their origin.
Also DIY: Pink charger plates. They need to be light pink, so I took 4 of my plastic rose gold chargers sanded them, masked the back of the plate, and gave them four coats each of a white primer, candy pink color coat, and a final clear gloss coat. You can always find great DIY tips on YouTube.
I often assemble a collage when working on a table setting. My original design included bird glasses which I love, but I decided to use my Noritake Pink Arbor goblets instead. Also replaced was the Wallace Bee Stainless with Grandmother's silver plate Yourex, Lady Washington.
For my birthday, which fell on a Friday, we had an early dinner with Rosemary and John at Fiorentina's Steakhouse. I had filet mignon with mashed potatoes and broccoli, and a scoop of ice cream with hot tea afterward. It was a lovely day. Rosemary gave me flowers with homemade candied nuts, and my friend, Jean, gave me flowers and honey spoons for tea.
