Chinese Dragon Tea Cosy

Inspired by the Chinese New Year, and with 2024 being the Chinese Year of the Dragon, I thought I'd design a tea cosy with a Chinese dragon circling it. But it's the start of January and Chinese new year is the 10th of February, so I'm going to have to get my skates on.

I'm really excited to be designing this tea cosy, because I love Chinese dragons and all their detail. There are a few important parts; the antlers, the beard and moustache, the talon like feet and the flame bits on the tip of the tail.

Chinese dragons are very different to other dragons. If you think of a medieval dragon, it's a big muscular beast with wings and breathes fire, and is probably a dark colour. Chinese dragons are long and thin, a bit serpent like, and this of course is not compatible with fat round teapots. So I have the designed the dragon to be going around the teapot as if guarding it, perhaps.

The main cosy will be plain and black. I thought black would be a fabulous base colour to show off the vibrancy of the dragon.

I thought I'd make my dragon red, I know that in Chinese tradition that red is considered lucky, and a lucky dragon sounds perfect for a new year. The red and yellow colour scheme will also look amazing against the main black tea cosy.

I think the trickiest bit of this tea cosy is the body, it's not simply a long tube, it's got waves to it and I want to get it to wave around the teapot. The other tricky part will be the head and the open mouth, but I have an idea of how I might achieve that.

In Chinese culture, the dragon is a symbol of power, strength, and good luck. It represents prosperity and abundance, making it the perfect motif for your tea cosy.
















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