tiny happy

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‘tiny happy’ was a journal of my handmade life from 2006-2025.

dishes

Dish 3

Dish 4 

Dish 2 

Dish 1 

Here are some things I made for my etsy shop update today. I think they might have been inspired by doing the dishes- (it feels like I'm always doing them these days), or at least, the colour palette of some of my favourite dishes. I collect old china like a magpie- but just lately I've been showing restraint, because I think I have enough. Perhaps if I had three more children, I would need more plates and bowls. But that's probably not going to happen. 

I love the old patterns of vintage Crown Lynn and Kelston Potteries dinnerware, and it's possible to find the odd piece here and there at flea markets and second-hand shops. Perhaps over the years all the other pieces get broken or lost, leaving a stray saucer or bread-and-butter plate. It makes my finds all the more delicious. The fern-printed bowl I've photographed above is a piece by the British Johnson Brothers. Do you have a favourite old plate or bowl?

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19 responses to “dishes”

  1. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    I used to collect plates too and I love seeing photographs of yours! I had to stop because I was getting a little too obsessive about which plates I liked for what foods based on colour and shape. Now I have a full set of matching white dishes that look the same under anything, a bunch of bright plaid plates on the walls, and the rest waiting in boxes for me to be sensible. I’m not yet, though – that little saucer on the top left is just crying out for a few shortbread cookies, don’t you think?

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  2. tinyhappy Avatar
    tinyhappy

    hi mary, i agree with you- its all too easy to get obsessive about the plates vs. food , i understand completely. now i think i need to go make some shortbread!

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  3. Jacqui Avatar
    Jacqui

    I love those plates. When I first moved down here to Dunedin I outfitted my flat with plates and utensils from the op shops and I had one plate and saucer with a brown maple leaf pattern, I still see it around in single pieces. I think it’s Crown Lynn. My aunt has that top left pattern in at least a few pieces.
    I think my favourite plates at the moment are our Johnson Brothers Fish Plates – but I do like that one of yours! We have our fish plates up on the wall and one spare in regular use. I’d like more to eat my dinner on that’s for sure.
    I also popped in to say I enjoyed the interview you did on Afternoons yesterday, although my radio went a bit funny and was only broadcasting your voice and Noelle’s was this funny tiny little squeak. It was like listening to you talking on a mobile phone! But yeah, enjoyed your responses and thoughts very much, you make a good craft ambassador!

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  4. Ella Avatar
    Ella

    Yes I must admit to getting a bit carried away buying china. It seems much more special when there’s only one little treasure by itself in the store and I simply must snaffle it up! I have been censoring myself lately though and only buying pieces I really adore. Have also had a bit of a clear out of the cupboards – back to the op shops, good karma right?
    The saucer on the top left is lovely, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that pattern before.
    I loved your interview on the radio yesterday. I didn’t hear it live but looked it up last night. Well done!

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  5. Minna Avatar
    Minna

    My favourite is a 1950s fruit plate from my grandparents’ house. And my favourite breakfast bowl is from NZ – a pottery bowl which my parents bought me as present on one of their NZ holidays.

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  6. caireen Avatar
    caireen

    I LOVE that grey plate.. and that bowl! I do have favourite plates – wanna peek? thepatchworkdress.typepad.com/the_patchwork_dress/2010/06/the-joy-of-ceramics.html – I love these for summer mornings on my garden bench, altho today used them because it was a dark, dreech grey morning!

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  7. librarygirl Avatar
    librarygirl

    Sigh. Melissa I obsessively collect Kathie Winkle china from the 60s and 70s. I have a big collection although it is really hard to find now. We use it for every meal, every day. (Lots of pictures on my blog if you’re not familiar with it).

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  8. louana Avatar
    louana

    I do have many favourites, mostly thrifted ones and I end up loving them so much I don’t use them! Love that little watercolour and seeing some of the fabric I sent you transformed!

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  9. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    Lovely plates (and plate inspired purses). I love Crown Lynn and I’d have a bit of a Crown Lynn swan problem if I had more money! I also collect green china shaped like leaves, white china with blue patterns on it (willow pattern or otherwise), tiny coffee cups and blue glass things…oh dear!

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  10. Josefine Avatar
    Josefine

    I have a bowl, handpainted (there is a signature at the bottom from the painter) with lemons and blue doodles. I love it so much because my grandmother brought it along from a vacation in turkey.
    Talking of lemons: I just made your lemon curd version, super yummy and perfect for the weather in Berlin. It has been raining non stop since sunday evening, but the moment I started making lemon curd the sun also started glimpsing through the clouds 🙂 yay!
    have a nice day
    J

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  11. Merja Avatar
    Merja

    That bowl in the second picture is seriously gorgeous!
    I have several vintage plates of Arabia that we have in our daily use. One of my favorites is a print called Fasaani, you can google it with Arabia & Fasaani.

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  12. Jill Wignall Avatar
    Jill Wignall

    Your photos look lovely and your painting. I have a matching set with flowers and corn on, it’s made from pyrex and was my Gran’s. I also have my mum’s 1960s entire crockery set which they recieved as a wedding gift. I treasure it so!

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  13. aqeela Avatar
    aqeela

    I love everything in these photos Melissa, your blog is so unique and i love it!
    Aqeela xx

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  14. Margaret Oomen Avatar
    Margaret Oomen

    i think that fern print is my new favorite
    I think I might just start collecting fern print china:)

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  15. susannamay@yahoo.co.nz Avatar
    susannamay@yahoo.co.nz

    I love the pink and green Crown Lynn Melissa!
    I seem drawn to anything made by Alfred Meakin.
    Thank you for brightening my day with your blog. You are like a ray of sunshine on a dull day. Bless you, Susan.

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  16. minnie arabella Avatar
    minnie arabella

    i am also a kathie winkle fan and have quite a few pieces. i also favour the plain pastel coloured johnson bros tableware.
    i so love your botanical focus, i’m always swinging between the garden and the sewing room – wash my hands in between!!

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  17. fliss Avatar
    fliss

    I have eyed off some of your dishes in some posts of yours, so nice. We have a few Kelston ceramics which i have found here in the oppies, i love them! actually found a huge set for only $10 which i was told came from a nunnery in Wellington!

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  18. abby jenkins boal Avatar
    abby jenkins boal

    As a tabletop prop stylist, sometimes I feel like all I have are plates. Onesies and twosies, full sets, platters, cake plates, you name it, three storages spaces and a barn full of them. Not including my kitchen of course!
    I am inspired to get back on my blog and post about some of them now that my shooting schedule (I work on TV cooking shows) has eased.
    Thanks for the inspiration and I am happy to have found your corner of the web via Resurrection Fern.

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  19. norma Bucknell Avatar
    norma Bucknell

    my saddest moment recently when I discovered among
    things broken in my CHCH Unit a lovely white ceramic
    Crown Lynn vase, Norma

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