To understand faults in the ware we must look at the production methods of Newport and Wilkinson’s. They were not china manufacturers all their pieces were earthenware which was more resilient than china. The Great War followed by the Depression meant that although earthenware was considered less “genteel” than china there was a larger market for as it was cheaper. The clay and other ingredients dictated the quality of the body and Wilkinson’s had a good reputation for this. Inspection of pieces made by Newport before Wilkinson’s took over shows how poor their ware was. Indeed, many Staffordshire manufacturers produced ware with an inferior body in the 30's.

The ratios of raw ingredients used to produce the earthenware was a secret known only to Colley Shorter his brother Guy and a few trusted operatives. It is hard to appreciate now how important this was, but even in the 30's the factory that innovated technically was far more likely to survive or make greater profits. The ingredients were made into two types of material, clay and slip.

CLAY ~ was used for flatware such as plates, plaques, saucers, and shallow dishes. The flat maker skilfully gauged how much pressure to put on a lever which pressed a top and bottom mould onto a carefully sized lump of clay. His assistant added impressed date marks purely so that the oldest ware was decorated first. Pressed flatware might have rough edges smoothed, towing, and this explains why some saucer and plate rims have slight irregularities. These were not “faults” on earthenware but would have been unacceptable on china. You are unlikely to see a piece with an edge ground recently, anyone trying to do this is highly likely to shatter the piece!

Flatware with visible manufacturing defects was normally rejected and sent to the shard ruck. However, during the three firings ware went through (biscuit, glost and enamel) stress occasionally accentuated minor flaws. Distinguishing between these and actual damage is detailed on page 2. A simple test to check whether a plate or plaque is “sound” is to support it on four fingers and then gently “ping” the edge with a finger. A dull sound indicates it has a minor fault perhaps not even visible to the eye.

SLIP ~ is clay mixed with water so it has the consistency of batter. A worker called a caster poured the slip into plaster moulds to make hollowware. The plaster mould allowed the excess moisture to evaporate from the cast which was soon solid enough to be removed. This piece, in the green clay state, might be a complete vessel or just parts needed to make a piece. By this stage the ware was too hard to take an impressed datemark, but an impressed or embossed shape number was on the mould and thus transferred to it.

Slipware covers all ware that is not pressed: vases, bowls, jugs, teapots, fancies, and interestingly the chargers which one might think were flatware. Note that Lotus jugs and Isis vases and some other shapes, were given definite ribbing which made them look hand thrown and also made them stronger, but they were cast. Chargers were too thick to press because of the strengthening ribbing, so had to be cast.

Casting Lines ~ cast pieces may have “lines” where slip leaked into the mould joins. A sponger & fettler used a knife to remove these and a sponge to smooth them. A vase where the mould was “out of synch” may have strong casting lines even after fettling. If this line is visible in the middle of the design it may affect value. A “scratched” mark or number on some ware was made by the fettler to keep a tally as they were paid piece work.

Blemishes ~ faults introduced during casting were caused by slip being poorly mixed or having impurities. Surface blemishes may be visible or more seriously small particles of iron can make a rust-coloured stain.

After casting or pressing ware went through the same processes, being fired in the biscuit oven, then glazed. Standard Bizarre ware was dipped in honeyglaze, the name coming from the colour given by the addition of one percent iron solution. The dipper was a skilled operative who could in one movement immerse ware in glaze and as it was withdrawn give a careful flick to ensure it was glazed inside and out. It was put in a heated dryer after which any surplus glaze on the base was carefully wiped off. Inspect Bizarre ware and you will see that the glaze does not cover the footrim where there is only a thin covering which is matt rather than shiny. This prevented it sticking to kiln furniture in the glost oven where it was taken next to be fired.

Assembling faults ~ ware that needed assembling, such as handles onto cups or pots, or a duck to the plate of an eggcup set may have other defects. Special workers did this at the biscuit ware stage using a solution to join pieces. Defects are various and include:

Lotus jugs ~ “stress cracks” where the handle joins the body. Early jugs were also prone to “star cracks” in the base where the shape was weak, the ribbing added about 1930 mainly solved this.

Jam & Honeypots ~ globbing of honeyglaze where the knob is attached, such as the bee on a Beehive honey, or the twig on the Apple pot may be mistaken for glue!

Conical cups ~ depressions visible on the inside where the handle was fixed, or bad seams at the base of the handle

Bon Jour teapot and jampot knobs ~ these were cast separately then attached and may have thick honeyglaze around the join ~ it can be difficult to spot if they have been glued back on.

Triple Bon Jour vase Shape 464 and 465 vases ~ these were assembled from separately cast pieces, and the tension between these caused by firing often resulted in fine hairlines or stress cracks.

Ironically some shapes such as the Yo Yo vase and Conical bowl which look as if they were made from composite parts were cast in very skilful one piece moulds. Even now the technical quality of this casting cannot be bettered, as Wedgwood discovered when they reproduced these shapes in 1992 and 1993!

Glaze Defects ~ The firing of the honeyglaze sometimes added faults. If the body had absorbed moisture before glazing, during firing this would escape as steam, leaving raised “pinhead” holes in the glaze. These are often found on the inside shoulder of Lotus jugs, and vases. The factory ignored them and still used the ware but on domestic items such as teapots it meant the piece was rejected on hygiene grounds. Honeyglaze was sometimes applied too thickly and on early pieces from 1928 to 1930 thicker drips of glaze make it look toffee-coloured. All flatware had to be supported on stilts in the glost oven, and these leave small marks where they touched the glaze. Sometimes these were ground down so they may be slightly more visible.

Glaze defects in Inspiration ware were introduced at the decorating stage and will be covered in the next article.

Grind Marks ~ On some pieces honeyglaze ran under the foot during glost firing, and this had to be removed by grinding it gently against an abrasive on a lathe. This left part of the foot of the ware with no glaze which would in time absorb dirt and become discoloured. It is common to find cast pieces with grind marks, and even some flatware was ground to remove glazing irregularities. Since these are almost inevitably original they should not stop you buying a piece. However, if you have a choice between two similar pieces you would probably want to opt for the one without the grind mark.

Comparing the quality of identical pieces was something even Clarice did. "Bizarre Girl" Phyllis Woodhead recalled an incident when Clarice went to the glost warehouse and found there were only two Viking boats in stock. She chose the better one and asked Phyllis to paint it in Crocus. When Phyllis accidentally broke it she threw it in the canal and had to surreptitiously get the other one. (The "Bizarre Girls" were meant to put breakages in a special box so anyone with an excess of breakages could be charged for them!) Luckily, once decorated and fired Clarice did not notice the inferior Viking boat had been used. The factory went as far as distinguishing between perfect pieces and “inferior” ones in the order books. Dealers who were good customers had notes against their orders stating “no inferior goods to be sent” whereas some orders purposely had pieces with faults included to dispose of them!

Hairlines & Chips ~ Fine hairlines in ware may be visible under the glaze. These have been there since manufacture and are unlikely to worsen. However, a hairline through the glaze is more serious. It may have absorbed dirt but should not be immersed in water to clean it, this may lengthen the hairline. A piece with an edge chip is unlikely to have been allowed out of the factory, but occasionally you may find these under the glaze in which case it occurred in the biscuit stage. A chip through the glaze to the body is almost certainly damage after manufacture, and will affect value depending on how large and visible it is. Most chips are not serious, but check in case they connect to a fine hairline crack.

In the next part of the ‘clinic’ we cover the faults introduced to Bizarre ware during the decoration processes but remember that early ware particularly often had surface blemishes hidden with the decoration!

Leonard Griffin

Another Original feature from the Clarion the most accurate source of information