Titian Studio Pottery Blog

 Look away now if you don't like spiders! Sherwood Spider Vase - Side one The original spider vases, with the hand-painted black spider, were made during the Sherwood era , sometime between 1949 and 1954 at Waitakere. A rather realistic spider waits patiently for its next meal on a web strung between two branches. Pinecones sit at the base of this triangular vase.  Why do I like these vases? They remind me of webs sparkling with dew at dawn in our native garden we planted over twenty years ago. I try to be aware of them not only for their beauty, but because they're soooo sticky if you walk into one at head height. Never been one for spiders though, especially the huntsman that come in unexpectedly through our windows. I've only briefly met a white tail spider and that was inside the hood of my raincoat I'd just put on. Danny spotted it and told me, 'Stand Still!! Stand Very Still!!' before flicking it away.   Sherwood Spider Vase (Side two) With the early examp...

So what exactly is a Swoose? Prototype Swoose  - from the collection of Jack* & Rose Brown The yellow Swoose Wall Vase is heavy and chunky indicating the slip was left in the mould for longer than necessary. Also, the glaze is excessively thick. The reverse has three raised firing feet and a keyhole hanging hole, the same as the Sherwood Gainsborough Blue Boy and Pinkie Wall Vase. Here's the link to the Sherwood blog showing the wall vase. Dave Jenkin and Cameron Brown were both dying of cancer. At one of Dave’s last visits to his friend, they chuckled whilst reminiscing over their long friendship and their time in the pottery industry. Cam Jnr quietly listened to their great memories. Both men died in 2002, only a few weeks apart. They had worked at Crown Lynn together in 1948/49 and became great friends. Dave was Crown Lynn’s chief design artist. He designed some very well known pieces including Crown Lynn's earthenware ' Expo '70 Legend of Maui, Sushi Platter ...