Teapots

I was first introduced to teapot racing (yes, it’s a thing) at the Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention. Racers take a remote-control car chassis, top it with a teapot, steampunk the heck out of it, and race the cars over an obstacle course in one of the ballrooms. It’s a hoot to watch!

One of my friends let me try to drive hers, but I don’t have great hand/eye coordination and didn’t get much further than going in a relatively straight line and running into a wall (no teapot racers were harmed).

I may not be able to build or drive a teapot racer, but the idea stuck with me and of course hedgehogs had to be involved. Because hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs and teapots scurried around my back brain until I finally had to sit down and doodle. I had to give Speedwheels a racer first. He’s been my mascot since he first wriggled out of my pen in 1982. His racer is named Earl Grey Lightning, and he’s the hedgehog on my welcome page.

The second was the drawing above: Sencha Samurai. I love the traditional Japanese teapots and based Sencha’s teapot on the tetsubin. The banner on the back is a traditional saying: fall down seven times, get up eight. My mantra.

And so, the Hedgehog Teapot Racing League was born! I now have ten teapot racer designs, each a different variety of tea and teapot (including a Samo-VarOOOM!). I’ve made them into stickers, postcards, and greeting cards. I’m also thinking about a coloring book for them at some future point, but there’s writing to do first.

If you’d like to see the Hedgehog Teapot Racing League in person and you live near Elk Grove, CA, I’ll have them with me at Hobby Quest‘s fifth anniversary celebration on August 9th!