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What's on
Your Plate?
Throughout history, people
have used different techniques to decorate the dishes that they used for
cooking and serving food. One way to place a design onto a dish surface is
to transfer the pattern from a piece of paper onto the surface of a plate
(as well as cups, saucers, bowls and other serving pieces). China dishes with
transferred designs are known as transferware because the design is
transferred from the surface of the paper to the surface of the dish.
Transferware designs were made to look like famous people or events,
countryside or city scenes, special symbols or stories.
 The most popular design ever
made for transferware is called "blue willow." The design was
created by an English potter named Thomas Minton around the year 1780. The
design was based on a popular nursery rhyme about two people in the country
of China. The story is not a true story and was not one told in China, but
it was a favorite legend in England.
As
you read the story, look at this picture of a blue willow plate. Then, on
the plate, find the parts of the story that are printed in bold
letters.
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This is a story about a wealthy Chinese man who
had a daughter named Koong-Shee. She was quite lovely, and her father
hoped to have her marry a rich man. Koong-Shee cared deeply for her
father's assistant, Chang. Chang also cared deeply for Koong-Shee. Chang
was a poor man.
Koong-Shee's father had arranged a marriage for her with a
very wealthy man. Koong-Shee's father did not know that this man was very
evil. When Koong-Shee's father learned of her devotion for Chang, he made
her stay only in his big house.
Chang and Koong-Shee, however,
wrote to one another, sending the notes back and forth in a small coconut
shell. They arranged to run away together. Chang found his way to
Koong-Shee's house, even though her father had set up gates to keep
him away. Chang and Koong-Shee then eloped. As they ran away over a
bridge, Koong-Shee's father angrily followed. Koong-Shee and Chang
escaped and sailed away on a little boat to Chang's house where
they lived happily together.
One day, the evil wealthy man Koong-Shee was
to have married found Chang's house and set fire to it. Sadly, Koong-Shee
and Chang died in the fire. But then, magically, their spirits were
changed into two white doves. Forever after that, the doves could
be seen joyfully flying over the areas where Koong-Shee and Chang shared
their happiness.
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Make Your Own Transferware
Plate
You will need a white paper
plate, some tape and a blue crayon for this activity.
 Here is a line-drawing of a blue willow plate. Print the page with the image on
it, then turn it over. Press hard and color the whole back area of the
drawing of this plate with your blue crayon. Next, cut out the plate and
place it on the center of a white paper plate. Tape it in place with the
drawing on the front and the crayoned surface against the surface of the
paper plate. With a sharp pencil, trace all of the lines of the blue willow
drawing. Make sure to press the pencil down as you draw. When finished, lift
the drawing off the plate to reveal the transferred design!
You can also draw your own
design and create your own story on this blank
plate. Print the image and have fun!
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