These are lots of set ups I tried with my new tea-ware. I have decided not to use the coffee table they are on however, because I feel that the table is claiming too much attention away from the tea implements. I have decided instead to use a simple table structure made from a solid board and a prostrate plinth, with a table cloth covering it to the ground. No one will know the difference ;P
Another reason for trying the tea pot in the centre is that it can also represent the influence the West has had on the contemporary Japanese tea ceremony.
I like the bamboo spoon resting on the tea cup, but I feel it parallels the western side of the table more if it is placed in the same position as the piece opposite it on the table.
I have been trying to decide if the spoon/sugar pot should go opposite each other and the whisk/milk jug, and if so which side of the table each should be placed on, but so far in my research I haven't come across anything to say if any of them should be on a particular side of the tea cup/bowl. I think I will indeed put the spoon opposite the sugar pot, simply because I feel a spoon, even one from a different culture relates better to a sugar pot (which often has a spoon with, in or next to it for spooning sugar) than to a milk jug. Same with the whisk relating better to a milk jug than a sugar pot, for what would a whisk have to do with a sugar pot at all?
Because most people in the West are right handed, they are most likely to pick up the milk jug with their right hand to pour. Two hands are often used for the sugar pot (lifting lid and spooning sugar) so it is less likely to seem in the wrong place if it is to the left.
I prefer the whisk on the right, and standing up rather than lying down. As with the milk jug, the whisk would more likely be picked up with the right hand, while the teaspoon could be either, or both if one was holding a pot of tea powder too.
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