I absolutely LOVE this guy's work,

He is a New Zealand potter; lives on the western side of the South Island in Hokitika, a place where New Zealand jade is plentiful and jade galleries abound in town. We marveled at a solid jade breakfast table and a bolder the size of a small settee.      

Weaver's main gallery space is a nice showroom at the edge of town. When we arrived, the owner said he had just left. He was one potter I really wanted to meet. I so admire his work. I had intended to buy one of his black teapots, but found a sauce pot I liked even better.

I don't know if he steam bends the wooden components of his pots or if someone else does them, but they always look just right on the piece.  I especially like the yardstick handles.

Paul Lewing's China Paint & Overglaze

Paul REALLY knows his stuff. This is a great book. This book covers so much territory, it's a mini history of an area of ceramics that has not been addressed in such a contemporary way. With this book, Paul has created benchmark and a major reference as an example for others to use in this kind of research. It's a great resource not only for potters, but historians, china painters, antique dealers and collectors.

I know how long he has been working on this and the results are stunning. I'm savoring this book in bits in order to absorb the amount of information that is packed between the covers. Paul not only is tackling the subject full-on from the origins and progression of china decoration through cultures, there's a complete data dump of technical aspects; tools, chemistry and technique. Makes ya want to run, RUN to your studio and start working! (Big problem there, since I usually get my reading in while all tucked up in bed between 9 p.m. and 10 or 11 o'clock at night.)

Beside being a luscious book to look at, it's a generous one. The narrative is easy, just like talking to Paul, and completely comprehensible. He holds nothing back, giving everything he knows and he knows a lot. I'm so glad the publisher, The American Ceramic Society, splashed out in heavy-duty slick pages and beautiful color photographs.

You may need two copies. One to keep pristine in your house and one to paw over in the studio! Go to Paul's webpage at www.paullewingtile.com to order the book.