This is such a simple, beautiful ceramic technique that it took me years to discover - not an unusual time-span where pottery is concerned! The start-to-finish cycles of stoneware are generally quite slow and it can take a long time to really get to know the raw materials and how they work together in the incandescent 1300°C heat of the kiln firing. The bulbous organic roundness of the form invites holding and is inspired by earth, sun, sky, flowers, birds and most of all - energy. We live in an energy field - we ARE an energy field!

CLAY - GLAZE - KILN - FIRING:

This piece shows the beauty achievable with simple ingredients. All it takes is an iron-rich clay that fires to a dark burnt-umber colour in reduction, a cobalt-saturated slip made from the same clay as the pot and a white glaze. Bake the whole lot at 1300°C for an hour or two and voilá!

The theme of 'Warrior Of The Dream' is based on Ranginui, the Sky Father of New Zealand Maori mythology. The true warrior is not a slayer but a defender of natural order and boundary, standing with one foot on the shores of grief, with the other in the world of creative energy.

Ranginui, like his counterpart, Papatuanuku the Earth Mother, exudes energy and all matter dances in their ever-unfolding stream of creation.

CLAY - GLAZE - KILN - FIRING:

When this plate emerged from the last of its many kiln firings, it simply shimmered from many applications of gold, platinum, copper, mother of pearl lustre and bright low temperature enamels. The clay body is Kopuku stoneware with a white dolomitic base glaze with high temperature overstains

One of my great loves as a potter was blue-and-white. From the deftly executed 'no-mind' folk brushwork of old Japanese pots to the exquisite and detailed decoration that emerged from various dynastic Chinese kilns, blue-and-white has always been one of my passions.

The more spontaneous type of onglaze blue-and-white brushwork on a dry, unfired glaze surface allows no time to ponder where to place the pigment laden brush. A large urn with a curved surface such as this is a special challenge.

This piece reflects my personal need for wilderness and nature, where there are no city lights, where stars at night paint the sky with crystalline clarity and there is a stillness in which thought has ceased its relentless chatter.

CLAY - GLAZE - KILN - FIRING:

Kopuku stoneware clay, fired to 1300°C in a ceramic fibre LPG gas kiln. White dolomitic glaze with blue cobalt/iron pigment brushed over.

Hot wax is applied to specific areas of already brushed pigment and the whole lot is set spinning on a home-made heavy-duty banding wheel.

This allows further layers of thinned cobalt pigment to be applied using a wide Japanese hakeme brush in a very free and spontaneous fashion - one of the beauties of the wax-resist technique.