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Breaking into a Coalport Saucer…

It’s always a bit unnerving making an initial break into a piece of china.  I admit I feel some guilt – especially when the item is valuable as it is.  This beautiful Coalport Flow Blue Chintz saucer is worth £15… and that’s without the teacup.  To be fair, if it weren’t for the fact that my Mum gave me this piece for the purpose of making some different jewellery I’m not sure I could have done it!

That scary first moment...
That scary first moment…

In this photo you can see that I have marked a few of the flower centres for earrings and fortunately the initial break seemed to go to plan.

I use tile nippers a bit like these: Silverline 786548 Tile Nippers – 210 mm and while they are surprisingly accurate when trimming a piece to size I find that the first cut is always rather unpredictable.

On the downside it’s frustrating when the pattern pieces I have selected are exactly where the stand of the saucer is located – this ridge has to be removed and that means a lot of extra time grinding.

Note the thickened area that has to be ground down.
Note the thickened area that has to be ground down.