THE KILNWORKS POTTERY AND ART GALLERY, INC.

"Birds-of-Paradise" is a limited edition of sculpted and handpainted vases produced by Peggy at The Kilnworks Pottery. Each piece stands 21" high and is approximately 12" across its widest part.

Peggy working on one of the first "Birds-of-Paradise" vases

Conceived of years ago, the first pieces of the 200 edition were unpainted white on white vases. There are still 20 of these pieces ready to be custom-colored. For more information, email me.

The latest pieces of this edition are colorful interpretations of birds-of-paradise in various color palettes, several pictured here. Peggy's inspiration for this latest design came from the Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio. At the turn of the last century (circa 1900 AD) the Rookwood Pottery employed superb artists who handpainted one-of-a-kind pieces. These artists were also pioneers in the art pottery field, often developing techniques, new colors and also equipment, in order to create the effects they wanted.

One of the distinctive looks of Rookwood at that time was the beautiful background colors on the vases. To achieve this look the artists would use a mouth atomizer. This could be described as a mouth operated air brush, since there wasn't an airbrush at that time.

With the advances in modern pottery equipment Peggy realized it was now possible to achieve the aesthetic quality that Rookwood Pottery had struggled to achieve a century ago. She decide to put her knowledge to work to create the most beautiful birds-of-paradise vases possible.

Several artists have joined her in handpainting these pieces. Their initials will also be on the piece as well as on the Certificate of Authenticity which comes with each Birds-of-Paradise.

Each piece of this edition is hand painted all around. Various palettes have been used to date, but custom coloring is available upon request.