Creating a Vintage Teapots Print and Pattern Collection for Licensing

I have a not-so-secret love for cute or quirky ceramics. The kind that you can find in second-hand shops or novelty stores. I think the most popular with my friends is a jug shaped like a fish that makes the funniest glu-glu-glu sound when you pour water from it. At the beginning of the year, I came across some very interesting Scandinavian ceramics and loved the way they used a limited color palette, their unusual shapes, and the prevalent floral motifs. It was definitely time for me to try my hand at creating a Vintage Teapots print and pattern collection!

First things first: the sketches. I experimented with different shapes and decided on two tall and two shorter ones, all with wonky handles and spouts, all decorated with flowers. This was a very fun part of the process, deciding what type of flower to draw on each one! As per usual, all were hand-drawn in Procreate on my iPad.

Vintage Teapots Sketches

Then, one of my favorite aspects of creating a new collection: the color palette! After experimenting a little bit, I decided on the following:

A lively color palette!

Not all colors are present in each teapot, but when seen side by side, they all look quite cohesive.

Four wonky teapots

After finishing the four teapots, I imported them to Photoshop, and that is where the pattern construction began! I thought that, of course, a teapot pattern was inevitable, and ended up with two different pattern compositions: a scattered teapot pattern with added yellow flowers, and a teapot-filled harlequin pattern.

Two similar but distinct patterns

Inspired by the floral elements of the teapots, I created a couple of floral patterns that complement them quite well. I included a couple of extra darker colors for the background, which give them a nice contrast to the more pastel-y original colors.

Repeating patterns to complement the Vintage Teapots Collection!

And since a collection can only be ready when the blender or simple patterns are done, I settled for a very simple scattered hearts pattern to round it all up.

Vintage Teapots Collection by surface pattern designer Elsa L. Moreno

This Vintage Teapots Collection was a thoroughly enjoyable project! I love drawing motifs that bring me joy, and can’t help but think about what types of products they could find a home in. I imagine this collection would look lovely in everyday products that we all have at home, like perhaps tea towels, notebooks, and greeting cards. It is quite versatile!

Textiles, cards, stationery, kitcheware… A versatile collection for sure!

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Cheers,

Elsa