“My cup runneth over”

 

“my cup runneth over”

The cup is such a simple thing, but it is also a wonderful instrument. A Cup holds the power to gather friends for a tea party or celebration in abundance, but can equally hold more intimate connections - two friends sharing a cup of tea. My friends are only friends because they are passionate about tea (normal tea that is - Ceylon tea) and we all believe that tea can solve every problem under the sun - in a good mug of course!

Mugs and Tea cups are a fought over in homes, everyone has their favourite. My daughter has a favourite yellow mug and wouldn’t drink without it. When it inevitably broke her sister kindly glued it back together, so it has a strange shape now, but it is still loved and used. My favourite mug has a chip on the lip  but it is so beautiful that I haven’t had the heart to throw it away, and as I drink from it I hear my mother’s voice warning me that I would get a dread disease and certainly die; my mom threw chipped mugs out immediately as she in turn had been warned by her father, a local GP, who would fly into a rage if he ever found a chipped mug in the house as they were carriers of TB and every dread disease under the sun. So every sip of tea for me could be my last! How I love to live dangerously… saying that I do try to stay well away from the chip.

But this tale is not about all of that, it is really about beaded mugs. We buy them in once or twice a month, they are made by over 100 women and every mug is unique, like the makers. Every time I buy I get so excited about the mugs - the intricacy, that the makers never use a printed pattern, that all the patterns are stored in the makers’ minds. I often wonder how they are filed in the makers brains: small little filling cabinets with mugs ideas labelled on the drawers? These patterns have been passed down from generation to generation and as they go along, they are either kept the same or they are added to; a small unique part of the maker is added. I have so loved seeing this, mother and daughter teams who started making the same mugs but now the daughter has added something of herself to the historical pattern. The patterns are like charts of time where you could place all the mugs from one family in a line and it would show the micro changes over time. Working with the mugs for over 24 years I have become sensitive to them. I am always on the look for new patterns, so when Sibongile brought in these mugs the other day that looked like crochet granny squares I was delighted and so were the customers.  

One day a woman came in with a mug bought by a German tourist; she said he was heartbroken as on his visit to South Africa he had bought beaded mugs for his entire family and they use them every day until one day he dropped it and the beads broke in a section. He had found someone coming to South Africa who could try to get his mug fixed, and so we did and “the mug” made its way back to Germany, repaired. I love the idea that the humble mug has such power over us and has such meaning. I see Woza Moya mugs in Germany with their bright colours and soul making a snowy day bearable!  And I see this German family huddled around all sipping from beaded mugs.

When the Thursday ladies come in I go straight to the mugs to see what is happening. I love how Sibongile’s granny square pattern has sparked their creativity and we now have several permutations of it. I love how the mug pattern has been translated into a bangle pattern. I love how it will only be this group of crafters who will be affected by this pattern that’s gone viral in this group only. I love how some patterns remind me of broken ears of corn, or some are like the constellations of new galaxies, a modern art story or shields. Sometimes my brain hurts over thinking how the patterns unfold in a maker’s hands and all the generations of stories carried within. Sometimes I think I should buy my entire family beaded mugs to drink from to honour this artform. I compliment each crafter on her design, sometimes asking where it comes from - it is always from either the Sky, God or the heart. The smile that emerges and the pride for her work that each maker has, fills my cup until it overflows.

I say : “Beaded mugs for all!”

Just saying: beautiful beaded mugs are available at Woza Moya store or online www:wozamoya.co.za