Autumn Fruits

These are Chinese Quinces which have a waxy coating when ripe and a wonderful perfume.  The pomegranate is not a common fruit in this area of New Zealand and many people ask what it is.  Mine are usually quite dry inside and not very usable but the birds love them when they split open a little later in the year.

Flowers

The morning sunlight on the kakehana with the Native Fuchsia flowers appealed to me as did the white Narine against the bamboo plant outside.

Moon Viewing

This picture of the new moon was taken at the beginning of the month - I would have liked to have taken a picture of the eclipse last Tuesday but my camera was not able to capture it.  I do hope you were able to see the eclipse as it was very beautiful.  My sasanqua is now flowering and also looks very beautiful.

Anagama Fired Sake Cup

 Drinking some sake from one of my sake cups the other night I noticed how lovely the colours were inside the bowl.  How an anagama can produce such wonderful colours on raw clay I do not know.  I have used the cup on numerous occasions but this was the first time I had seen and appreciated the colour.  Maybe too much sake?

More Views Inside the Kamaka Anagama

The top image shows the three side stoking ports and a couple of old Chinese baskets which are no longer available in New Zealand.  The lower picture is of the front arch which makes one wonder how these bricks defy gravity and stay in place.  These pictures were taken by my son Craig using a wide angle lens on his i-phone.

Peter Stichbury

This is not a very good photograph of Peter taken beside the Kamaka anagama in 1982.  Peter received a New Zealand Art Societies fellowship to study overseas in 1957.  He first worked at St. Ives with Bernard Leach and William Marshall and later with Michael Cardew at Abuja in Nigeria.  Peter taught at the Ardmore Teachers Training College on his return to New Zealand until he started potting full time, in partnership with his wife, Diane, in 1970.