It was a complicated project, much like all of these sort of constructions.

It was not entirely obvious from the beginning how to go about making the spherical shape of a teacup. I knew I couldn’t just use cardboard or paper because it would need to hold about 1500 teabags.

The basic premise was for it to be like a kind of tea cup themed lucky dip, where presents would sit within the cup surrounded by cheap Tesco Value teabags. I did extensive research on tea-bags and regardless of any Buy One Get One Free offers, the Value tea-bags won on price every time. I suspect not on taste.

I decided on using chicken wire to make the basic shape and then cover that in papier-mache.

The wire was a little tricky to hold in place. It was better than cardboard on its own, but it was very sharp and bits stuck out all over the place. A good pair of pliers came in handy here.

Once the basic shape was there I covered it in lots of masking tape. This was because the holes between the bits of wire were too big to support the wet paper. Also masking tape gripped the paper better and helped the process along. After about 2-3 hours of application I started work on the handle, also out of cardboard. Soon my neighbour, realising what I was attempting crafted me a handle out of wood. Brilliant. This was then attached using wire and a good amount of sellotape. It certainly wasn’t strong enough to support the cup, which by now was actually rather heavy but it looked the business.

The last part was to decorate it. I wanted it to look like one of those old pieces of china decorated in blue, but when searching for this on google, I found only very complicated and intricate designs. There seemed to be no simple almost cartoon-like equivalent to draw from. So I just made it up….looks ok though?

The presents themselves were wrapped in special tea-cup wrapping paper. I am sure this is something that should be easily bought from any decent card or wrapping shop. I was wrong. I ended up getting it from some place in America called Gifts of Gratitude. They were very helpful and waived their admin fee due to the distance it was being sent. Here is their website, I am sure I will end up buying from them again…