When a teapot is not just a teapot…

When I first saw this Poole Pottery Odyssey teapot I thought it was marvellous with its rich and vibrant colours and knowing that every piece of Poole Pottery is handmade and unique.

I’ve had my teapot for a number of years and have only used it occasionally as it is so much quicker to make a tea by dunking a tea bag in a mug and life has been just too busy to spend time on making a proper cuppa.

Consequently, my teapot has been sitting on the kitchen counter gathering dust and getting the occasional knock from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Over time, I’ve noticed the teapot has had the odd scuff and tiny chip in the glaze, but then one morning a couple of years ago I found that the handle had dropped off. I have no idea what had caused the final stress break, but there it was the handle clean off sat next to my marvellous teapot. I was gutted as I know that despite its beauty, without a strong and stable handle, the teapot is not much use and can’t pour the tea. Not knowing what to do with it and how to properly fix it, I put the broken handle in the teapot to keep it safe and hid the teapot in a dark corner of the kitchen counter, slightly hidden and gathering even more dust.

In the last few months, my teapot caught my eye again, looking neglected and sad and I knew it was the time to finally set to and find a way of fixing the handle. It has been in the pursuit of this that I discovered Kintsugi and made a decision that this was the method I was going to use.

So I released my teapot from the dark corner that it’s been lurking in, dusted it down and carefully cleaned it. Over the next few weeks I have slowly tended to it, sanding down the sharp edges of the break, carefully cleaning the wounded area and letting it fully dry and settle for a few days and then applying the golden epoxy resin to fix the fractures and chips and at just the right moment finished it with a dusting of gold mica powder. I then had to leave it for a few days to set properly.

This week, I had my first proper pot of tea from my beloved teapot. I’ve got to admit, I felt really nervous trusting that the epoxy resin would actually hold and not break when I lifted the teapot to pour it for the first time. However, it struck me, now that I can see the previous fractures marked with gold, I can take better care of them and learn to trust that there is now strength in the previous vulnerability.

I have now cleared a prominent space on my kitchen counter to display my marvellous teapot, where it won’t get knocked or left to get dusty and unused and I have vowed to stop rushing making a cup of tea in a mug, but to instead each morning, take my time brewing a proper tea in the pot and enjoy a moment of gratitude and acknowledge that the scars now look beautiful, they are perfectly imperfect.

I have found that my morning cuppa, not only tastes nicer, as a properly brewed tea is so much more flavoursome than a rushed dunk of a teabag in a mug, but also it has evoked fond memories of times when I have shared tea from a proper teapot with loved family and friends.

So why am I telling you all about my teapot…

It’s not just my teapot that has been on a journey of rediscovery and healing. I have been trying to apply the same loving care and compassion to myself. I’d neglected my mental health for a few years and allowed myself to get dusty, fractured and then finally broken. I am now trying to take the time to breathe and let my unique beauty shine.

Interestingly, I looked up the definition of ‘Odyssey’ as that is the design name of my teapot and it’s rather serendipitous that this is what I discovered…

Odyssey: a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience.

My next investment is to get a proper tea cosy!

#MentalHealth #BurnoutRecovery #Kintsugi