Tag Archives: transferware

I have a slight obsession for dishes.  I do own a few sets, but I am secretly wishing I could add a few more to my home.

Can you relate? 

Because I’m not independently wealthy and I don’t have several china cabinets, I’m collecting dishes on Pinterest right now. Do you do that too?

My current focus is on brown transferware:

 

If you’re dreaming of owning some more dishes like I am, remember you don’t have to be wealthy to have them!  Yes, collecting them on Pinterest is free, but if you are serious about adding something new to your collection at home you can do it affordably.

A few years ago I started collecting my beloved Spode Delamere china.  You’ve seen it a lot in my tablescapes:

It’s not in my budget to buy an entire set of dishes at one time so instead, I collect mine over time.  The concept may not be new, but I think it deserves repeating.  In today’s world, we seem to love instant gratification but you don’t have to go in to credit card debt to own some of the things you love.

When I first discovered my beloved Spode Delamere pattern, I decided to begin first by buying an inexpensive set of plain white dishes from IKEA.  They were about $70 for a set of 12 dinner plates, 12 salad plates and 12 soup bowls. They are the perfect back drop for mixing and matching and they didn’t break the bank.  I actually bought them for myself as a Mother’s Day present!   

A few months down the road I began adding the Spode dishes starting with just 4 salad plates to dress up my white plates.

After I acquired the 12 salad plates I wanted, I started buying dinner plates.  I currently have 8 dinner plates and am hoping to get 4 more to make a set of 12.  

It’s so easy to mix and match them and it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a complete set!  

Collecting things you love takes time and it’s totally worth the wait.  It’s not always affordable to buy things all at once, and that’s totally okay!

I received two square serving bowls in my Spode pattern as a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law.  One of them is tucked inside the basket in the picture below.

You can see I also have some other brown transferware plates hanging on my wall.  The pattern is Bow Bells by Mason’s.  

I would love to continue collecting little bits and pieces of vintage transferware to go with my new Spode dishes and, again, it will take time.  But isn’t that the fun of collecting?  Watching, waiting and hunting for just the right thing at just the right price?

 

By the way, if you’re curious about the origins of transferware, you might enjoy  reading this post I discovered.  It’s interesting to learn that some of the names we hear all the time when talking about dishes — Spode, Staffordshire and Wedgewood — were actually the names of people who helped invent the process of transferring images on to porcelain, ironstone and bone china and earthenware! 

What do you love collecting?  Are you a “dish” person like me?

If so, you may like my Brown Transferware Pinterest board or you can browse my other boards here.

Wishing you a great day,