Wednesday, March 31, 2010

White Slab Bottle


This bottle I made a long time ago when we were making glazed wares in the oil kiln. It was a complicated exercise to make the curved sides without them looking hollow. My son found this bottle on "Trade Me" and has loaned it to me for awhile.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Artichoke Flower


This is a flower from a wild artichoke. There is a clump of them in my lawn which is flowering well now. Most of the year I can just mow over the area and keep it tidy. Come spring I just leave this area to grow and am rewarded by these lovely bright flowers in late summer. I have not tried to cook the tubers but they would probably be alright to eat.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Tall Bottle


This is another of Estelle's pots from our first firing. It must have been right in the front by the fire grate where the embers have built up against it giving the colour and texture towards the base.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Blue Flowers


These blue flowers are on what I think is called "Tweedia". It has lovely silken seeds that blow about like thistle seeds and so are self seeding and come up in the most unexpected places.

Monday, March 22, 2010

St. Ives Pottery


This pot is from St. Ives pottery and was probably made by Wm. Marshall. There is funding available for the restoration of the Leach Pottery which is competitive. I would like you all to visit http://www.artfundprize.org.uk/2010/vote/ and vote for "The Leach Pottery" who need all the support they can get.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Sunset


This sunset a couple of nights ago was rather spectacular. I am not a great fan of sunset pictures but sometimes they are impressive and deserve to be recorded.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Small Side Dishes


These small dishes are 180mm square and were fired stacked together. The one on the right is the top one without any wadding marks the other four all have the three wadding marks like the one on the left. They are very useful for serving small individual portions of food. Yes! There are only five in the traditional Japanese way - not the half dozen that Western people would expect.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Rhus aka Smoke Tree


This picture is of the seed bearing bracts on my "Smoke Tree". When I take people to look at my kilns they have to walk past this tree and nearly always ask what it is. It is one of the Rhus family which also contains the lacquer tree the sap of which used in Japan and China to coat objects of tableware and furniture.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Lacebark


This New Zealand Lacebark (Hoheria Populnea)is flowering profusely this year. My tree has become very large as it has put its roots into a drain and every second or third year I need to dig out the drain and remove the roots. Next year I am going to get a commercial root cutter in which I hope will delay or stop the roots invading the drain.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Square Platter


This square platter is just under 300mm. square and made from Ivanhoe clay that we imported from the U.K. This clay took the most interesting flame markings as can be seen on this piece. To get the flame patterns it seems necessary to fire very consistently so that the flame passes over the surface in a constant pattern for a long period of time.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Seeds on Maple


My Maple tree isn't very big so that I can get close enough to take photographs of its seeds. Eventually I hope it will become a large tree like those seen in Kyoto - especially those along Philosophy Walk in Higashiyama.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Estelle's Pepper and Salt


These date back to the 1970's when we were doing glazed domestic wares. Our son found them in a second-hand shop recently. They were in perfect condition and only needed new corks to make them useful again.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Another Autumn Fungus


This fungus I found the other day growing on by an old gum stump. The form and colour are both quite amazing. I would wish for more flowers in my garden but I do enjoy finding these natural but unusual plants.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bamboo Vase


This Bamboo Vase by Estelle is one where the curtain of green glaze shows well. At the end of the firing we would oxidise for about half an hour which would cause the last coats of ash to melt and run giving this curtain of glaze on the surface of the pot.