Time for Tea
Time for Tea? Teatime at WMODA is always a special occasion. Discover more about the history of tea drinking from China to the USA in our popular Art of Tea exhibition. Louise Irvine, our Executive Director, shares anecdotes and etiquette tips for enjoying traditional English afternoon tea. Is it High Tea? The ritual
A Bird in the Hand
The Martin Brothers “When you enter the shop… you find yourself in a dim-lit passage with crowded shelves of stoneware jugs carved into leering, laughing, grinning and ogling heads, jostling with the most impossible, and most fascinating, pot birds with strangely anthropological expressions…” The ‘pot birds’ were also known as
Burns Night
On January 25, Scots around the world will honor Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet (1759-1796). At a Burns supper, guests enjoy traditional Scottish fare washed down with whisky and recite his most famous poems, including his Address to a Haggis. The first Burns supper was held by his friends at
Devilish Doulton
Devilishly Hot Doulton! One of the very first Doulton figures depicts Mephistopheles, a demon who corrupts men and collects the souls of the damned for Lucifer. Only one figure from 1897 is known in a vivid scarlet costume and it comes up for sale at Whitley’s Auctioneers on January 19.
Do You Believe?
Imagine a time when many people believed that fairies really existed. When Tinker Bell was dying in J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play Peter Pan, everybody in the audience had to save her by crying out, ‘I do believe in fairies!’ In his book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, J.M. Barrie claimed
Who’s Who – Anne Orvieto
Anne Orvieto is one of the stars at our WMODA boutique and a regular volunteer at our glass workshops. In addition to all her beautiful glass plaques, we recently sold her masterpiece which was on display in the Hot Glass gallery following our Touch of Glass exhibition. Anne was first
Send in the Clowns
A visit to the circus during the Holidays is not complete without the antics of the clown but they were around centuries before the big top was invented. The earliest English clowns were called fools, Jack Puddings or Merry Andrews as the term clown, meaning clumsy did not enter the
Merlin’s Magic
Merlin’s Magic Merlin is working his magic in our new Fantastique exhibition. The Great Enchanter from the Arthurian Legend first cast a spell on our founder Arthur Wiener over 50 years ago. A Royal Doulton character jug of Merlin was the first piece he ever bought. The Wiener collection began
Here Be Dragons
The new Fantastique exhibit has a ‘thunder’ of dragons on display to use the collective term. There are Eastern and Western dragons plus many other hybrid serpentine monsters from the mythologies of the world, including Wyverns and the mystical Ouroborous. Chinese Dragons The five-clawed Chinese dragon was a spiritual and
Glazed Expressions
Among the most admired objects at WMODA are the two circular tables with tiled tops by the Moorcroft pottery. One is in the Arts & Crafts gallery and the other is the centerpiece of the Art of Tea exhibit. They are the perfect style for afternoon tea for two, Victorian