For gallery handpotted Beach Artware

Sorry Mike I didn't recognize your pot as having chittering on it.  Yes I'm leaning towards handpotted for this ware now .....
Crikey it's chittering not chattering!!
No I was right first time ..... it's called Chattering!

This 120 mm jam pot has a very familiar look about it. I was pretty sure it was hobby with that "DC" but it is heavy and the clay is that rough yellow showing on the base. The lid is thin with the swirl under the knob which is very defined and sharp.
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Mike, I think that that glaze is within the variations for the orange.
I think the "DC" is a clue for you to track down!

I have just picked up the seven pieces I got on trademe. The only duplication for me is two new pepper shakers (one broken), so I have five new shapes in orange with quite a bit of glaze variation, both in the colour mixes occurring and the texture, which ranges from matt to very shiny.

It is a chore to post pics while I'm away from my wifi so I will do that when I get home.

The largest new piece is a corked canister (about 5 inches plus cork), a slightly smaller one (about four), a small jam pot with lid, a sugar (? no spoon cutout) pot with lid slightly smaller than my one posted above, and a quite plain salt pig.

All appear hand-potted. All but the pig are glazed white inside, including the lids.

Well.... I have just had a long conversation with Steve Fullmer. I thought I would take the bull by the horns and ring him since there was no response to Jeremy's questions. He has got your query Jeremy, but he hasn't got his thoughts in order yet to respond. He fully intends to though. 

Anyway, he and I had a nice general conversation about working at Beach, and working with Dan Steenstra, who he really loved and admired. The most interesting thing he told me is that Steenstra had a special method of pressing down the clay on underneath of the lids, below the knob, to prevent s-cracks.  By pressing the clay with a little tool, he created a koru shape - which sounds exactly like this little mark on Ev's lid and on yours above Mike. I have some ware with similar marks. I can't guarantee that this is a Steenstra signature as he taught the other hand throwers this technique. 

Steve has given me other contacts to follow up, so it is possible we are going to find someone who can tell us about this ware. I must say though that Dan Streenstra is an unsung hero in NZ hand potting. Because he was a production thrower, he is less well known than some of the studio potters,  but even so. He was immensely skilled. I think it is very exciting that we have found another range of Steenstra work after he left Crown Lynn.  Bless you all, especially Ev, Jeremy and Mike for keeping this investigation and conversation going. I have recently come back from a splendid time in Rarotonga where it was WARM! Lucky me.

Great stuff Maryr!!
Did you happen to ask about that marvellous uranium oxide glaze that Beach was famous for?
By the way most of the studio potters were classed as production potters, including myself. Daniel Steenstra would be right at home with them if he was around. John Parker found Shufflebotham and has promoted him tirelessly and now it's Steenstra's turn to take a bow.

Both of my new orange pot lids have spiral marks and I believe the one at home does too.

They differ from each other and the one above.

(Some pieces have spirals on the inside bottoms too but that could simply be formed as the are turned.)

The lady I got the new pieces from said that they were her mother's, and that she had thought they came from Kerikeri, which does tie in with something I heard elsewhere, but as the case for a connection with Beach builds I think maybe people were simply mistaken.

A thought occurs to me that perhaps Eva moved north (with unsold stock) after Peter's death, or alternatively that Beach had an outlet in the north, but that is all idle speculation.

Ev, as the "Traditional" pieces are marked similarly to the Beach slipware I think that is where they fall chronologically. We have been told elsewhere on the forum that Kiln Craft became Clay Craft as a direct result of protests from Kiln Craft in England.

Yes Jeremy, Eva showed up in the 1981 Electoral Rolls in Northland.  I didn't write down the details.  Son Paul never showed up anywhere, so I have no idea what happened to him.

Yesterday at Antique Alley in Dominion Road I found this darling little 67mm lidded tiny jar.  There were several other named lidded pieces like Marmalade and Honey etc made from the yellowish clay, but this little sweetie is made using that warm terracotta clay.  Yes it has throwing spirals inside, but the outside is as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Thanks Ev. So maybe the Kerikeri story is correct then. I think it was Jim who first suggested a Far North connection wrt the numerous token jars that appeared at the Whangarei auction.
Unlike me he has been up north for a loooong time.

Is your "terracotta" piece like my orange vase above?
Do you think it the same clay cooked differently or a different clay mix?

Friday ...

Ev, followed you through Antique Alley today.
At least two of the pipe-labeled pots had chips off the piping.
I like the green glaze on them.
I photographed a little vase with a crimped top as it is different from any we have seen and managed to email it to the computer (along with my new orange pieces) in the hope of posting but it just wouldn't work.
Sort it Sunday evening.

I also popped into MIXT in Kingsland (Marc opened up for me as they usually only open in the weekend). They sell lamps amongst other things so I thought it would be the place to find a Beach lamp base. Marc recognised the orange pots and said they had had some through the shop but no lampbases. A cute little shop in West Lynn (Richmond Road), the name of which I will have to add later, had also sold orange Beach pots but again no lamp bases.

I see you have loaded your pot now. The base looks yellow in the middle with orange at the edges so at this stage I am assuming the colour difference is in the firing.

Ev yours is a lovely wee pot. Much more elegant in shape than mine in a similar glaze. I am glad to see your notes re the records on Beach Artware.

Steve Fullmer did make me laugh re the Uranium glaze - he told me a story about Peter Beach asking him to go down to the wharves to collect some - it was in a container marked with a huge skull and crossbones and the wharfies wouldn't touch it.  Steve described the glaze as a 'deep deep luscious orange' and said that the insides of the pots were always glazed in a non-toxic glaze, from memory he thought white.

There was a lot of this stuff made, Steve talked about Steenstra making up to 100 lidded jars a day, and Steve was also hand-throwing alongside him, with a similar output. There was also another young man there by the time Steve left. I have heard that later there were up to 6 hand throwers at Beach, but I have yet to confirm that, certainly there weren't that many when Steve was there. 

At any rate the orange ware and other Beach products were made in their thousands and distributed throughout NZ, so there is no reason why it shouldn't have turned up in Kerikeri, regardless of what Eva did after she left.

Steve also talked to me about Steenstra throwing pots 'off the hump' - ie putting a large lump of clay on the wheel and making several pots, one after the other, from that one lump.  Chris Harvey also told me about this skill of Steenstra's.  I found a link to someone doing this on youtube, it's quite interesting to watch if you have the patience to watch the potter dither round in his studio for a minute or so before he gets started!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szRFlct8vPA

Top left previously posted.
New pepper shakers omitted, basically same as earlier post.
Top two are matt.
Bottom two left are shiny.
Bottom right two are satin.
Apart from having three pepper pots basically the same I think all my orange pieces are different enough to be called different shapes. I haven't unpacked yet. I'll compare sugar bowls when I have and maybe post a few more shots.

about five inches high

Later on Sunday ...
This is a sweet little mug very similar in shape to the CL 1043.
Pretty sure this one is a handpotted as it has more banding inside than out.

87mm H

I saw that last vase at Antique Alley and thought I could see finger marks around the 'frill'. It looked like the same green glaze as on the named pots.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/18/79/09/02/img_1741.jpg
The cute little mug is the same as the green Milford Sound mug in the collection of green I put forward as from this family of pottery a while ago. Same glaze as Ev's jam pot and Vale's I think it was spoons jar and vase above. Yellowish clay and probably hand potted. I must work out to copy a photo from an earlier post.
This 110 wide soup bowl is also yellow clay and has an obvious swirl still showing through the glaze on the inside bottom. This seems to crop up with this ware very often as well. No obvious casting marks or lines.


Thanks Jeremy...I'll see if this works. It did!
I'll put a more accurate image of the mug here.


Sorry about the cross editing. The copying worked well!

Mike, go to the earlier post, click edit, then copy the whole of the photo link, which occupies two lines, including the square brackets. Close that post then paste to your new one.

I recognise the shape. The mug looks so good in the green.

Here's your one. You can extract from other people's topics using the quote button then selecting and copying only what you want.

(Mike has posted his mug now so I have removed his photos from this post.
Oh dear those photos keep coming and going as we respond to each other's posts by editing. I'll let Mike sort it.)

One more thing ...

On Saturday I saw a wine goblet in brown and yellow from Beach in the Red Cross on K Rd. Silly me I didn't buy it.

Whangarei Hospice

Green ewer, about a foot high, no stopper, otherwise same as

Brown ewer, same shape and size, with four goblets

I found a big frilly vase today, an earthenware spoons with that icing set writing and a lid with the koru under the knob, but no pot .... oh and a clay craft wine sip and other crap.

Ah Ev.... looks like you're developing an obsession too. I have coveted that big ewer that Jeremy posted but 30 dollars is too much especially since it once had a lid.

Val, at just $5 more the brown seems like a good deal (comparatively) but I just don't fancy the colour.

The green one's been there quite a while now but I didn't recognised it as Beach until you mentioned it (either here or at Jim's, can't remember).

Agreed re colour. The green is so much more to my taste. One day a perfect specimen will come my way...

This is a stunner and I managed to pick up the correct colour eventually.  Unfortunately it has a chip, but fortunately it only cost $6 because of it.  The frill doesn't stand out as having finger marks like the smaller green one did.  



The base - which is the pale yellow clay..



This decoration is called Chattering !


Edits to add the lid without a pot with the Koru under the knob... same glazing.

Ev, The frilly brown vase has a Steenstra look because of the sharp lines and the pattern too.

haselnuss wrote:Ev, The frilly brown vase has a Steenstra look because of the sharp lines and the pattern too.

I don't think I've seen a Steenstra pot with this decoration, although I have seen some Rhodes ones, but they were made from Brick Clay.

Ev, have a look at the brown/off white Steenstra vase that I posted. It has the bumpy bit on the off white part and the crisp lines.

Ev, the colour on your vase is a lot brighter than the ewer. It actually looks quite nice.
This chattering is becoming quite recognisable.

haselnuss wrote:Ev, have a look at the brown/off white Steenstra vase that I posted. It has the bumpy bit on the off white part and the crisp lines.

Yes I agree with you now haselnuss ..... Thanks as it's hard to pick out because of the white glaze.

Thanks, haselnuss, for sharing you Steenstra pot here.

When Val talked to Steve Fullmer he told her that Daniel Steenstra taught the other hand-potters at Beach Artware his koru technique for the lids so presumably he taught them a lot more than that. It would be nice to assume that the grooved and/or chittered Beach pieces were Steenstra himself, as it would mean that Ev, Mike and I had acquired Steenstra pieces on the cheap, but unfortunately we will need more specific information to make such an attribution. I'm easy with that: I just love my uranium orange!

I hope we get some more information from Steve Fullmer.