Titian Studio Pottery Blog

A Christmas Collection at Webb's Auction House Santa on the corner of Wellesley and Queen Streets - 2017 I generally get the Christmas spirit before anyone else in my family. This year it unexpectedly arrived one morning in late November. I'm totally into Christmas. It's the only time of year when people get into the festive spirit of decorating. I've put up my tree, smothered it with decorations, set up the lights inside and out, as well as untangled the balls of tinsel here, there and everywhere. I enjoy our night time walks, especially at this time of year with neigbhourhood displays of illuminated twinkling Christmas trees and fences dripping with icicle solar lights.   Louise's 2022 Christmas Tree I've collected a number of gorgeous Titian Studio, Sherwood Pottery and Aquila/Orzel pieces over the past year. My latest pieces were from the collection of Manos Sourris. He was an enthusiastic collector whose wealth of knowledge of New Zealand studio pottery and...

The Bubble Glaze PV.113 - Green, Blue, Purple Crackle Lustre Crackle glaze was an accidental discovery by Cameron Brown in the late 1950s. A crackle agent was added to the glaze or applied directly to the warmed semi-matt vase. It makes the glaze crawl and crack. The thicker the crackle agent applied, the bigger the crazing. When it had ‘crackled’ enough it would be ready to go into the kiln. There are two types of crackle glazes. One is finished with a high-gloss lustre glaze, whilst the other is left as it is with the cracked surface such as leather and lace glazes. T.103 and V.110 - green crackle lustre Crackle Lustre comes in three colours - Green, Blue and Purple on a white slip body. Though all crackle lustres are hard to come by, blue is considered the rarest. To me, crackle lustre gives the impression of coloured soapy sud bubbles that have landed and popped against a beautiful array of vases.  V.117, BNB.306, and an unmarked *Clam Shell vase - purple crackle lust...

 Transfer or Decal. What's the difference? Maori Warrior & Wahine Barrel Mug with Ashtray Lid So, what is the difference between transfers and decals? Nothing! However, in my musings I refer to the images made in-house at Titian Studio (Henderson), and later at Orzel Industries (Drury) as transfers. And, I refer to imported images as decals which were sold by salesmen, representing English companies. Decals were sold to various commercial potteries including Crown Lynn. Wahine Maiden (S.100) Reginald ‘Reg’ Taylor was Crown Lynn’s colour chemist in the 1960s. In the evenings and nearly every weekend, he moonlighted with Cameron Brown teaching him how to make silk screen transfers using an old camera. Kiwi Mug It was in Henderson that the first transfers were made. They were of various coloured knives, forks and spoons and were added to the outside of cookware. At this stage nobody has found an ovenware piece with the original knife-fork-spoon transfer. It’s like looking for a ne...

 What's the story? (Photo courtesy of Warren Roberts) On the last weekend of September, I attended the 46th Annual Bottle Show at Hamilton. It was fantastic and I highly recommend that you go along next time it's in your part of town. Oh yes, did I mention the Kiwi Auctions were there, and the sales tables of antiques and collectibles too? I had a wonderful chat with a couple of guys who'd set up the Ti-toki Liqueur bottle display. I certainly learnt a lot from chatting with them. I'm bummed I didn't get their names. Hopefully they'll see my post and get in touch with me. Glass Ti-toki bottle used in the mid 1970s It was in the late 1970s Diane Balich, managing director of wine company based in Swanson, contacted Orzel Industries about commissioning them to make a tekoteko crock for their Ti-toki liqueur. Up until then they'd been using a bulbous shaped glass bottle. The photo above is an empty bottle I rescued from my parent's house when I was a child. ...