Alright, so I saw these super cool floating teacups popping up everywhere online, you know, the ones that look like they’re pouring flowers or coffee beans or something out of thin air? Looked like magic. And I thought, hey, I could probably make that. How hard could it be, right?
First thing, I needed supplies. Dug around the house. Found an old teacup and saucer set I didn’t care much about. Good start. Then I needed something to hold the cup up. A fork seemed like the obvious choice, saw others using them. Grabbed a sturdy old metal fork from the kitchen drawer – sorry, fork, it’s for science! And glue. Figured regular craft glue would work. Spoiler: it didn’t, not really.
Gathering the Bits and Pieces
- An old teacup
- A matching saucer
- One strong metal fork
- Glue (initially thought regular craft glue, ended up needing strong epoxy)
- Stuff to pour – I chose some fake flowers I had lying around
Okay, first attempt. I tried bending the fork. Man, that was tougher than I expected. Had to use pliers and really put some muscle into it. Bent it into a sort of gentle curve. Then I slapped some craft glue on the bottom end of the fork handle and stuck it to the saucer. Put more glue on the prongs and tried sticking the teacup on top, tilted like it was pouring.
Total disaster. The glue was taking forever to dry, and the weight of the cup just made the fork slowly peel off the saucer. Plus, the cup wouldn’t stay tilted right, kept sliding around. Glue got all over my fingers. It was a sticky mess. Clearly, regular glue wasn’t cutting it, and the bend wasn’t quite right.
Figuring It Out – The Second Try
Back to the drawing board. I realized two things. One: I needed way stronger glue. Like, serious hardware store stuff. I got some two-part epoxy glue. Two: The fork bend needed to be more strategic for balance. Not just a curve, but more like a Z-shape, bent sharply near the saucer and again near the cup to distribute the weight better.
So, I grabbed another fork (RIP fork number two) and bent it more carefully this time, using pliers again. Got that Z-shape going. Then, mixed up the epoxy – wow, that stuff smells strong, definitely did this near an open window. Put a good blob of epoxy on the saucer where the fork handle would go. Pressed the handle end firmly into it. Now, the important part: patience. I had to prop the fork up so it stayed exactly in place while the epoxy cured completely. This took hours. Seriously, don’t rush this bit.
Once the bottom was rock solid, I mixed more epoxy. Carefully applied it to the prongs of the fork. Then I positioned the teacup onto the prongs, tilted just how I wanted it. Again, more propping and waiting. Had to make sure the cup angle was right before it set. More waiting. It felt like ages.
Making it Pretty
Finally! It stood up on its own. The cup looked like it was floating above the saucer, held by this weird, naked fork structure. Now for the fun part – hiding the evidence. I took my fake flowers and started gluing them onto the fork, starting from inside the cup lip and flowing down towards the saucer. Used a hot glue gun for this part, much faster. Just kept adding flowers until the whole fork was covered, making it look like a stream of flowers pouring down.
And that was pretty much it. Stood back and looked. Hey, it actually worked! Looked just like those ones online. It wasn’t perfect, maybe a little glue visible if you looked super close, but from a normal distance? Magic.
So yeah, took a bit of trial and error, especially with the glue and getting the balance right with the fork bend. But totally doable. Pretty happy with how my little floating teacup turned out.
