A WORCESTER artist has been breathing new life into 250-year-old porcelain.

Sara Hayward has spent the past 10 months as artist in residence at the Worcester Porcelain Museum.

The result is a unique exhibition, which opened this week that shows Royal Worcester lives on, even though factory work has stopped.

Storm In A Teacup incorporates monotypes, etchings and paintings, as well as a video installation.

"The whole experience has been an absolute privilege," said Mrs Hayward, who has a master of arts degree in printmaking from the Royal College of Art.

"To be allowed access to the archives and store rooms of 250- year-old porcelain has been awe inspiring.

"I had no idea at the outset what the outcome of my response to the collection would be and how work for the exhibition would develop. But it's been a wonderful time for me."

The exhibition includes six new etchings and the sale of limited edition relief block prints, the proceeds of which will be split between St Richard's Hospice, Worcester, and the museum in Severn Street, Diglis.

For antique expert Henry Sandon, former curator of the museum and current patron, it was exciting to see his beloved Royal Worcester in a different light.

"It's strange to see them in this way," he said. "But wonderful.

"It's not the way I see these pieces, which I know so well, it's seeing them from someone else's point of view. It's simply fascinating."

Storm In A Teacup runs until June.