The Art of Small Gatherings
'Our kitchens are now the centre of our lives – with the kitchen table at its very heart; the place we gather for sustenance, nourishment, festivity, safety and satisfaction,' says Hannah Shuckburgh, author of new book The Set Table.
'Creating a beautiful table is not a matter of having money nor about cupboards bursting with heirloom china and priceless crystal – it’s about thought and care and imagination and, mostly, generosity. Set a good table, gather some friends, and everything else will fall into place.'
Here are some simple tips from Hannah on how to set a beautiful table with modest resources...
The Set Table (Cicada, £17.99)
Hot water will set a stain and soap will only give you the illusion you are washing it out. As soon as a stain dries, you are unlikely to be able to shift it, so act quickly with a jug-full of water. With smaller stains, eye makeup remover is incredibly effective, as are baby wipes. Keep some under your sink and use on your clothes too, for spot-cleaning.
There is a skill to rationalising the wares on a bric-a-brac shelf. On a crowded shelf of mawkish figurines and scratched CDs, you must try to see each bowl or jug as an individual. Pick every crockery item up, look at it and imagine it out of context – in a chic interiors shops, say, or on a table in the garden, full of sweet peas. Things which look tatty and unloved in a junk shop might look completely charming styled well. Stand back and squint. Remember, it’s not what it’s worth, it’s what it’s worth to you.
When collecting second-hand crockery, it’s good to have a theme to stick to. Perhaps it might be roses, sherbet colours or all the shades of green. Having a theme will make it easy to pinpoint things in and amongst the rubble.
Turn crockery over and look at the base. By understanding the names and symbols printed on the back, you can get a sense of its origin and, occasionally, its value. The great pottery companies will promise the best quality – look for Spode, Royal Worcester, Poole, Royal Doulton, Denby, Wedgwood and Crown Derby. Now examine the mark – is it cut into the clay or is it painted or printed on? Incised or handpainted marks indicate an earlier piece. A printed mark usually implies that the piece is 19th Century or later. An image of Royal Arms, the words ‘Limited’, ‘Ltd’ or ‘Trade Mark’ all indicate that the piece was made after 1862. The words ‘England’, ‘Bone China’ or ‘Royal’ are more common in 20th Century pieces.
Much of the crockery in charity shops is likely to be 1980s reissues of traditional designs. Descriptions of the piece such as ‘Genuine Staffordshire Ware’ or ‘Ye Olde Willow’ are indications that this is likely. Look at the colour of the piece – originals tend to be darker. Then, run your hand over the print. Older, hand-painted items won’t have a protective glaze, so will have a slightly raised pattern, whilst later, glazed pieces will be completely smooth to the touch. Look for chips, cracks and signs of repair, and then put the plate on a solid surface and check is sits flat (some older plates will wobble).
It’s also lovely to offer a teapot with fresh mint leaves steeped in boiling water for people who don’t fancy caffeine, but serve it short, in a teacup, not in great gallon-sized mugs. Mugs, I think, are really best at teatime, with proper tea in them and a biscuit.
Teacups with saucers can either be footed or flat – standing upright in their saucer or sitting snugly in it. For after-dinner tea drinkers, the finer the cup the better – look for single bone china teacups in junk shops and mismatch your set.
Match the flowers with a vase – shiny, silver or mirrored vases look perfect filled with pink peonies, sweet peas, lavender and rosemary. Hyacinths look right in tin buckets; scented herbs call for weathered pots; rusty watering cans beg to be filled generously with daffodils, and old-fashioned roses look right in faded painted jugs. But don’t be afraid to experiment with the less conventional. Contrast your colours – vivid red geraniums look amazing in a green malachite vase. Try putting something very elegant, like a rose, in an earthenware pot, or something wild in a very ornate vase – flowering kale can look great in a solid silver jug.
'Creating a beautiful table is not a matter of having money nor about cupboards bursting with heirloom china and priceless crystal – it’s about thought and care and imagination and, mostly, generosity. Set a good table, gather some friends, and everything else will fall into place.'
Here are some simple tips from Hannah on how to set a beautiful table with modest resources...
The Set Table (Cicada, £17.99)
How to get stains out of tablecloths
Contrary to what you’ve heard, no amount of salt, stain remover or white wine will remove red wine spilt on a white cloth. There is only one way to get it out, and that is with cold, cold water, and plenty of it. With any stain – oil, wine, tomato – you need to flood it with cold water immediately, and I mean drench it.Hot water will set a stain and soap will only give you the illusion you are washing it out. As soon as a stain dries, you are unlikely to be able to shift it, so act quickly with a jug-full of water. With smaller stains, eye makeup remover is incredibly effective, as are baby wipes. Keep some under your sink and use on your clothes too, for spot-cleaning.
Buying crockery second-hand
Gone are the days when you might find an Ossie Clark dress in the 10p bin of your local thrift store, but ceramics, pottery and tableware are a massive untapped resource. I know it’s annoying to be told you can pick things up in charity shops – when for most of us there is nothing there but moth-eaten jumpers and games of Monopoly with missing pieces – but if you are not searching for priceless antiques, you will be able to stock your cupboards amply with beautiful and distinctive crockery.There is a skill to rationalising the wares on a bric-a-brac shelf. On a crowded shelf of mawkish figurines and scratched CDs, you must try to see each bowl or jug as an individual. Pick every crockery item up, look at it and imagine it out of context – in a chic interiors shops, say, or on a table in the garden, full of sweet peas. Things which look tatty and unloved in a junk shop might look completely charming styled well. Stand back and squint. Remember, it’s not what it’s worth, it’s what it’s worth to you.
When collecting second-hand crockery, it’s good to have a theme to stick to. Perhaps it might be roses, sherbet colours or all the shades of green. Having a theme will make it easy to pinpoint things in and amongst the rubble.
Turn crockery over and look at the base. By understanding the names and symbols printed on the back, you can get a sense of its origin and, occasionally, its value. The great pottery companies will promise the best quality – look for Spode, Royal Worcester, Poole, Royal Doulton, Denby, Wedgwood and Crown Derby. Now examine the mark – is it cut into the clay or is it painted or printed on? Incised or handpainted marks indicate an earlier piece. A printed mark usually implies that the piece is 19th Century or later. An image of Royal Arms, the words ‘Limited’, ‘Ltd’ or ‘Trade Mark’ all indicate that the piece was made after 1862. The words ‘England’, ‘Bone China’ or ‘Royal’ are more common in 20th Century pieces.
Much of the crockery in charity shops is likely to be 1980s reissues of traditional designs. Descriptions of the piece such as ‘Genuine Staffordshire Ware’ or ‘Ye Olde Willow’ are indications that this is likely. Look at the colour of the piece – originals tend to be darker. Then, run your hand over the print. Older, hand-painted items won’t have a protective glaze, so will have a slightly raised pattern, whilst later, glazed pieces will be completely smooth to the touch. Look for chips, cracks and signs of repair, and then put the plate on a solid surface and check is sits flat (some older plates will wobble).
Coffee cups, teacups and saucers
No supper feels quite complete without a tray of strong coffee. Dark and really intensely coloured things – chocolate, inky-black coffee, sweets wrapped in metallic paper – feel so luxurious; a kind of midnight treat. Think about contrasts after your pudding has been cleared away. I always bring coffee in on a tray, even though I’m only carting it from kettle to kitchen table – because it looks so special that way, jostled together cups, miniature teaspoons, a small jug of milk and bowl of soft brown sugar or jagged sugar lumps alongside. For after-supper coffee cups, hunt down the smallest, smallest you can find. Literally child-sized, with a saucer or without. Again, these can be mismatched, so buy them when you see them – they’re called demitasse (which means half a cup). Make an Italian stove-top pot of espresso coffee and serve it in small doses.It’s also lovely to offer a teapot with fresh mint leaves steeped in boiling water for people who don’t fancy caffeine, but serve it short, in a teacup, not in great gallon-sized mugs. Mugs, I think, are really best at teatime, with proper tea in them and a biscuit.
Teacups with saucers can either be footed or flat – standing upright in their saucer or sitting snugly in it. For after-dinner tea drinkers, the finer the cup the better – look for single bone china teacups in junk shops and mismatch your set.
Displaying flowers
Don’t think of flowers as the centrepiece – a huge vase that dominates the middle of the table; they should be accents. On a table at which you eat and talk, flowers must be low – well below eye level – which means vases must be no more that a few inches tall, unless, that is, you are sectioning off part of your bigger table for a smaller gathering, in which case a large, loosely sprawling bunch of roses or branches in a lusterware vase or a hurricane shade looks wonderful. In general, though, avoid big vases. They seem to make even a lot of expensive flowers seem rather mean, wherever you put them, and can be a huge obstacle for chat. No one should have to duck around flowers in order to see the person opposite them, so always be on the hunt for really miniature containers – egg cups, Christening cups, teacups, sugar bowls, pretty tin cans and so on. So many forgotten objects make great flower holders – they just have to be watertight. Glass and crystal suit all flowers and will add a sparkle to a candlelit table. Gather vases together in little groups, bearing in mind the ‘Rule of Three’: odd numbers are always more pleasing than even. Think in groups of varying heights, too: three types of blue flower, for example, in three shades of blue, in three different jugs. Or three bunches of three types of roses in three different pale pinks. The benefit of clusters of flowers is that they look good from every angle, so there will be something lovely to look at from every seat at your table.Match the flowers with a vase – shiny, silver or mirrored vases look perfect filled with pink peonies, sweet peas, lavender and rosemary. Hyacinths look right in tin buckets; scented herbs call for weathered pots; rusty watering cans beg to be filled generously with daffodils, and old-fashioned roses look right in faded painted jugs. But don’t be afraid to experiment with the less conventional. Contrast your colours – vivid red geraniums look amazing in a green malachite vase. Try putting something very elegant, like a rose, in an earthenware pot, or something wild in a very ornate vase – flowering kale can look great in a solid silver jug.