But... The mugs were very small, and I like a big cup of tea; ditto for my husband's coffee. So after the novelty of having a mug with a cover and strainer wore off, we stopped using them and packed them up. In our cabinets instead are more than a dozen mostly mismatched mugs. There's the dragon mug and handmade pottery mug, both with big volume, that I favor for my nighttime cups of tea (gifts from art teachers, both!). There's the public radio mug that is perfect for a hot cup of cider, the mug that I use for tea in the morning, and another mug that I call the 'cocoa mug'. And my husband has his own batch of mugs with old cars on them, that he uses for coffee. And there's the Christmas mug, the Chanukah mug... you get the idea.
So when I came across this stuff today, my husband hunted in the basement for the mugs they match, and realized we must have handed them over to a rummage sale many years ago, totally neglecting to remember to include the matching tops.
Which leaves me with what I now have: pretty covers too small for any mug and mini ceramic strainers. I'm looking for some ideas. The covers, I thought, might look nice mounted somehow on some sort of surface, in a shadow-box frame perhaps? I don't know. I thought maybe I could inlay them in plaster, but my husband thinks they won't stay put. Or perhaps I could glue them to cork to make coasters, but they'd be rather slippery I suppose. Got any ideas?
And the strainers - I don't have a single idea yet, but I'd hate to throw them out. Please, when you make suggestions, remember I'm no longer teaching, so I don't necessarily need art class ideas. But I'm open-minded. I'll be curious to see what you come up with!
