Kamei Glass Vase Vintage Hand Blown Glass from Osaka, Japan by Toshichi Iwata

Update 2/5/2019 I relisted it as an auction again but I dropped the price.
People!  If I am going to have any chance of finally restarting the fuchsia nursery again, it has to be now.  Horticulture is time sensitive.  I need to be making and monitoring cuttings right now.  I can't be gone all day working elsewhere and keep them alive.  No, I cannot use automation to monitor them.  They are in small batches and each variety has different requirements.  Please help, if only by sharing this post and/or the facebook post on PedricksCorner.  Thank-you!

I just listed this vintage hand blown glass vase my dad purchased in Osaka, Japan in the 1960's.
You can see it on EBay here:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kamei-Golden-Glass-Vase-Original-Box-and-Labels-Numbered-D-701-Toshichi-Iwata/233113147908

And here is a little bit about it:

Kamei Glass comes from Osaka, Japan and the Kamei Glass Company or the Kamei Glass Works.  Kamei glass was usually high quality glass and in current times is often mistaken for Sklo Union (Scandinavian) or Murano Art Glass (Italian).  Although Toshichi Iwata (1893-1980 and sometimes referred to as Tosti Iwata) was heavily influenced by the twenty years he spent exploring glass techniques in Murano Italy from the mid 1930’s to the 1950’s, he returned to his family’s large glass-works in Osaka where he began producing original studio pieces.  He also oversaw the production of the company’s other pieces for export.  The Kamei Glass Company produced a range of glass including tableware, novelties, vases and “Art Glass” from the 1960’s until they closed in the mid 1990’s.

           His studio pieces can be identified by the strips of imbedded gold with random bright colors stretched and pulled like millefiori.  And then covered with a translucent layer of clear glass.  His pieces were a part of the Japanese studio art glass scene and these contemporary designed pieces are now rare.

The fuchsia nursery needs my full attention from now until this summer when I begin making lavender wands again and funds from this auction might be the only way I am able to keep moving forward towards getting it back up and on-line again.  

Please help by sharing this post any way you can.  EBay even has buttons now that enable you to share a listing via Twitter and Pinterest!  Thank-you!

And if you know anyone who can translate the tag, please let me know!

The Hope For 2019

Things are coming along for 2019.  The fuchsias are doing well and if proceeds from selling lavender keep up, I will be able to keep working on getting the  nursery back on-line this spring.  And maybe, by this fall, I will get the opportunity and have the means to start throwing clay again.  Just used this big bowl I made in 2016 and wondered if and when I am going to get to make another one, or two, or one hundred!  The lavender wand inside is nine inches long.  This is one of the biggest bowls I was able to make while I was learning to throw.  An on-going learning process I hope to continue for the rest of my life.

Winter Flowers on the West Coast

Just thought I'd share one of my favorite native flowers with you.  I try to spread these guys out everywhere I can here.  Tucking some of them into the potted plants.  These Labrador Violets, Viola labradorica, are blooming in our Mandarin Orange tree pot.  I'll keep you posted on all the other places they are tucked into.  I hope to be able to offer them in the nursery by this summer.  Did you know the flowers are edible?  #lovepurple #loveviolet

My Color Palatte So Far

Can you tell I've been collecting embroidery floss for awhile?  Ever since I was a little girl and my grandmother taught me to embroider.  Some of these go back to then.  Sometimes I snap up batches at a flea market or garage sale.  My collection now stands at almost 1,000.  Would I turn down new colors?  Never!  I still need to arrange the colors better, but at least now they are in 4 cases instead of 10.  If you too, love embroidery floss, I have a secret for you.  Visit the fly fishing department of a big box store... they have better containers for less than the crafts department!!  

What does this have to do with fuchsias?  Well, maybe someday I can embroider a few of them.  Meanwhile, I promised to create a special piece for a friends Christmas present and the next thing I knew, I was looking for the right colors of floss...  I'll be working on live fuchsias later today.

Happy New Year from Fuchsia peniculata

This is one of our species fuchsias here.  Paniculata grows up to the roof of the house and I walk under it to fill the bird feeders every morning.  These flowers are from this morning and they enjoy full on sun all afternoon until sunset.  And they keep the resident hummingbirds happy all winter, as does the Fuchsia splendens down the hill.

This is the walkway under the Fuchsia peniculata in the summer.