Titian Studio Pottery Blog

  The fragile nautilus shell is carefully cradled in coral. Sherwood Nautilus on Coral vase  from Cam & Bev's private collection The original hand-painted Nautilus on Coral vase was modelled by Cameron Brown Senior, and decorated by Dorothy in the Sherwood era from 1950 until 1953/1954, at Waitakere. This was prior to their name change to Titian Studio, which I believe is around this time. This example, photographed by me, is from Cameron and Bev's private collection and was included in the Auckland Museum's Titian Exhibition in June 2004.  Sherwood Nautilus on Coral vase  (base) from Cam & Bev's private collection Bisk fired blanks were supplied by Sherwood Pottery to Owen Salisbury's Royal Oak Pottery. It was at his factory that they were painted gold or a dark cream then a shellac clear coat to seal the paint. You'll find many of the Sherwood supplied Royal Oak pieces, like this vase, the fish with bubbles toothbrush holder, and the wall moth vas...

  'When rainbows turn rain into gold.' Black Stardust I’m not a potter, so can confess I know zilch about the wonders of creating, using and firing glazes, however, I'm super passionate about Titian Studio's decorative glazes. PB.104 - Black Stardust The stardust pattern shows as tiny gold spots and fine dribbles over a dark underglaze, then finished in clear glaze. The child in me feels it's reminiscent of a vase sitting outside, just as a rainbow passes overhead, turning rain spots into pure gold.  B.102 - Black Stardust Ceramic decorator Mary Baillie had been enticed to come out from England to work for Tom Clarke at Crown Lynn. She brought her mother out with her. After many years with Crown Lynn, she moved to Titian Studio in 1963 at Henderson. Mary brought with her the decorating techniques she’d learnt at Royal Doulton, such as lustres and golds. At Titian she was in charge of gold application, hand decoration and t he applying of transfers. Cam Jnr tells me ...

 A weekend away treasure hunting in the Waikato. Front window of Arkwrights Antiques , Paeroa Danny and I love our roadies. Who doesn't enjoy driving around checking out antique shops, op-shops, second-hand shops and demolition yards. I approach the shops with a sense of excitement wondering if there's something for us, or more especially, for me! It's the adulting version of a treasure hunt.   This weekend we visited shops in Paeroa, Rotorua and Taupo. We were on a time schedule so I had to choose which ones were most likely to have something for me. Paeroa - 'The Antique Capital Of New Zealand' with its eleven shops, most of them on Belmont Road, are within easy walking distance of each other. Find a park, and off I (oops, we) go. As a personal preference Danny and I chose to wear masks in all the shops we visited.   The Titian stand-up butterfly vase, and the Orzel Ti-Toki bottle were in locked display cabinets with the more desirable Crown Lynn pieces.   Gen...

B-103 (Butterfly Vase) L ove is a butterfly which when pursued is just beyond your grasp, but if you will sit down quietly it may alight upon you.  -  Nathaniel Hawthorne . Who can resist a butterfly? There's the distinctive orange and black of the Monarchs floating gracefully on a breeze. The red and gold of our native Red Admiral* and the small blue hued or copper coloured moths drifting across fields of long grass. They remind me of lazy childhood Christmases spent on the Coromandel Peninsula. And school holidays riding on the back of trailers, hauled by noisy tractors at Puhoi. A time of eeling, making hay forts and looking for frogs beside an overgrown fish pond. Mum hated frogs!!  * The New Zealand red admiral (Vanessa gonerilla) is a butterfly endemic to New Zealand. Its Māori name is  kahukura , which means "red cloak". ( wikipedia.org ) B-103 Butterfly Vase Titian Studio designed, and slip cast stand-up butterfly vases and butterfly wall vases. These ...

  Were you one of 160,000 who walked over the Auckland Harbour Bridge? S.110 - Auckland Harbour Bridge dish There were some amazingly historical events that happened in 1959. The arrival of the Barbie Doll, the first Grammy Awards, and ‘Xerox’ to name a couple.  Auckland had its own momentous occasion, the opening of the Auckland Harbour Bridge on the 30th May. One newspaper estimated, one hundred and six thousand people walked its length to celebrate the opening after four years of construction. It was four lanes connecting the North Shore, at Northcote Point, to Auckland City at St Mary’s Bay, with drive through toll booths set up on the northern side to cover the costs. The clip-ons were added in 1969. I remember my father paying the cashier the coins from our car's unused ashtray. My parents didn't smoke, so it was safe place to keep the coins to stop them disappearing annoyingly under seats and floor mats. If I pestered long and hard enough my father would let me hand t...