JUG, TRANSFER-PRINTED IN BLACK.
Emblems and inscribed "Success to Trade."
Subject on reverse—"The Faithless Lover."
(Height 7 inches.)
JUG, TRANSFER-PRINTED IN BLACK.
Portrait of Duke of York, and mounted dragoon on reverse.
(Height 7 inches.)
(In the possession of Mr. Hubert Gould.)
What is Transfer-printing?—A piece of pottery may be plain or undecorated, it may be painted, or it may be printed. The process of printing consists of affixing an engraved print from a copper plate and transferring an impression to the pottery to be decorated. It is this latter process which claims our attention in this chapter. When transfer-printing was first used, subjects such as portraits (King of Prussia), costume subjects (series of actors and actresses on Liverpool delft tiles), fancy or pastoral scenes (such as Æsop's Fables, &c.), were produced in black, puce, or reddish brown. These were at first culled from contemporary volumes with engraved copper-plate prints as illustrations. We find Wedgwood in quite early days searching London for suitable prints of views and similar small subjects for decorative purposes. Probably at first the copper plates which had been used in books were bought up by the potters, and did service again for their ware. Later they employed engravers, who no doubt copied or adapted other people's engraved work to suit their purpose, and as the art advanced it gained in originality, and a band of engravers worked for the potters in designing subjects strictly applicable to the limitations in the technique of earthenware.
This process of transfer-printing is roughly as follows. The copper-plate is inked, and a sheet of tough tissue paper, wetted with a mixture of soap, is applied to its surface and printed in a press. The paper is taken off, showing an impression or print, which is carefully laid on the surface of the piece of earthenware to be decorated. The inked design on the paper transfers itself to the earthenware.
Over-glaze Printing.—The difference between over-glaze and under-glaze decoration always seems to puzzle the beginner, but the explanation is simple enough. A piece of pottery is produced by the following steps. The clay is "thrown," that is, it is spun into shape on the potter's wheel, or it may be made in a mould. When in this soft state, say in the form of a basin, it could be crushed by the hand into the shapeless mass of clay whence it sprung. It is next put aside to dry sufficiently to allow handling. It may receive some of its decoration at this stage as it is possible to paint on the more or less damp clay, but as a general rule that is left till the next stage.
It is now placed in the "biscuit" oven and receives the most intense heat, and is here stacked in fireproof saggers or boxes to protect it from the flames, and it is fired for about three days before being taken out in the state known as "biscuit." Wedgwood's jasper ware, black basalt, and all unglazed stoneware stop at this biscuit or unglazed stage.