#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--TEAPOT COLLECTING

The Santa teapot that started it all 

Guilty Pleasures

Merriam-Webster defines guilty pleasure as “something pleasurable that induces a usually minor feeling of guilt.” Collectors can certainly identify with this. Most will tell you that they spend far too much money (as well as time) on their collections, be they books or dolls or model railroad trains.

Fish teapot bought in the Bahamas

My guilty pleasure is teapots but not just any teapots. I collect whimsical teapots, ones that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

I never collected anything prior to teapots, and my collection came about in a rather odd way. About twenty years ago, I was shopping at Christmastime with a friend. As we wandered around a department store, I saw an adorable Santa teapot and made a casual comment about how some day, if I ever had lots of disposable income, I’d like to collect whimsical teapots. Several weeks later that Santa teapot arrived as a Christmas gift from my friend.

Pincushion teapot

The wonderful think about collections is that if you have one, it’s always very easy for friends and relatives to buy gifts for you. And that was the case after receiving that first teapot. I didn’t set out to collect teapots; I had very little disposable income at the time, and that which I had went to more important things—like family vacations.

However, somehow word spread that I was collecting teapots, and before I knew it, I was receiving whimsical teapots for every conceivable occasion. I now have a collection of about fifty teapots ranging from handcrafted miniatures to normal sized ones capable of brewing several cups of tea. I also have dozens of teapot Christmas ornaments, a couple of teapot candles, and even a teapot pincushion.

Teapot candles

In the past two decades I’ve bought only two teapots myself. On a cruise to the Bahamas, I purchased a fish teapot, and while visiting Disneyland for the first time, I bought a Minnie Mouse teapot. The remainder of my collection has all been gifts, and the collection keeps growing…and growing…and growing.

Minnie Mouse teapot bought at Disneyland

The funniest part of all this? I’m a coffee drinker! The only time I drink tea is when I’m sick. But I do love my teapots, and truthfully, they don’t really qualify as a guilty pleasure, just a pleasure, since I spend neither time nor money collecting them.

(Lois Winston is the author behind the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries as well as other works of fiction and nonfiction. She’s also the de facto owner of this blog, but don’t tell Anastasia that!😉)