Throughout her career, although very much less after the war, Clarice Cliff demonstrated a keen interest in using a variety of glazes to widen and extend her output. Her interest in this field commenced early in her Bizarre years with such variations as white, pink, light brown and blue Latona glazes and the striking Inspiration range to name just a few. Collectors will find a variety of different glazes on pieces dating from the mid to later 1930’s. Examples the author has seen include the Goldstone series, celadon, apple green (‘Summer’), dark green, aquamarine, matt Honeyglaze, grey speckled with metallic flecks and grey and mixed colours of the ‘Kang’ range.

One of Clarice Cliff’s experiments using coloured glazes is Opalesque. This is a range of patterns that are decorated in a fashion similar to Inspiration. In Opalesque, it appears that the biscuit has been first covered in a thin blue glaze and subjected to low temperature glaze firing. This would leave the surface “soft” and slightly pitted. This pitting would account for the characteristic “speckled” appearance of the designs that is apparent on close examination. The piece was then decorated using various metallic oxides and the back and parts of the design finished by painting and spraying with a darker blue colour (5C).

After spraying the piece with 5C glaze, it was fired at the temperature normally used for on-glaze decoration and this accounts for the smooth finish - so different to that found on Inspiration ware. The supposition that the undecorated areas had the final blue glaze sprayed on rather that dipping the whole piece is well supported by the examples illustrating this article. On the reverse of both examples, the application is extremely irregular and patchy. Dipping would have evenly covered the whole piece but reduced the visibility of the design. In Opalesque 6414 the pattern book calls for a strip of this colour (5C) to be applied as part of the pattern. Had the piece been dipped, the impact of this broad blue stripe would have been lost.

 It is reasonable to assume that Opalesque was an attempt to reintroduce an Inspiration–like range at a lower production cost. It is well known that the failure rate of Inspiration ware, during firing and during post-firing processing, was high. This, coupled with the tendency for the glazes to run over the kiln furniture during firing, bonding it to the ware, necessitated breaking of the supporting stirrups in order to remove them from the pieces. Both of these production flaws would have added significantly to the cost of Inspiration ware. Opalesque may not have had these technical problems so would have been suited to inexpensive production. Economic considerations were perhaps the major obstructions to re-introducing an Inspiration range in the mid 1930’s. A second reason that would have influenced a marketing decision to re-introduce was that by 1931, when the range was discontinued, most of the staff involved in the technical side of production had moved on to other employers.

The author is fortunate to have two comports decorated in Opalesque and Inspiration. Comparisons between the two demonstrate how closely related the two techniques were.
Inspecting the inside of the foot of both pieces reveals what appears to be the same light blue glaze. This same light blue colour shows through on the front of the Inspiration piece in the undecorated areas in the centre of the open flower and around the edge of the half opened one.

As stated earlier, in the production of Inspiration, the white base glaze, over which the designs were later applied, tended to bond the kiln furniture to the piece. Later this glaze was thickened to reduce the problem of bonding. However, rather than the whitish glaze of the early Inspiration pieces, the one illustrated here is a thin pale blue and very similar in colour to the glaze used on the Opalesque pieces. The presence of a third type of base glaze on the Inspiration piece (illustrated here) suggests that a different base glaze was used (probably towards the end of the life of the range) and reused for the Opalesque range. Close inspection of the stirrup marks on the base of the Inspiration comport indicates there was no bonding between the kiln furniture and the ware. The stirrup marks look the same as those seen on Honeyglaze wares and the Opalesque pieces.

At present, only a few patterns are known in the Opalesque range. For some patterns, the subject matter seems to have been borrowed from other Clarice Cliff designs. Excerpts from the Newport pattern book that describes the pieces illustrating this article (6413 is not included in the illustration) are as follows:

6413 OPALESQUE WARE
 Spray in UG Brown on background of Blue,
 Grey and 5C

6414 Opal ware
Brown spray on background of fawn yellow
Dark fawn and brown, Pink and 5C lines

6415 Opal ware    Bruna
Foreground in brown fawn and yellow tree in same colour
Leaves in yellow
Spray of flowers in fawn, yellow, purple
Background in 5C.

This information is of much interest. The colours required for the pattern are given simple descriptions rather than the usual titles (e.g. Egg Yellow, French Brown etc.) This suggests that these are indeed raw, coloured oxides.

The requirement for the use of ‘5C’ indicates the use of a particular blue-green coloured glaze which I have not yet seen used in the on-glaze range (Bizarre, Fantasque etc.).
For pattern 6413, the first line of painting directions reads “Spray in UG Brown” which may suggest that the spray of leaves was to be painted underglaze.

Finally, the information in 6415 gives the name of the pattern ‘Bruna’. As this is the same pattern used for Inspiration ‘Garden’ this latter working name should be discarded (see The Agora Vol 3 No 1). The Inspiration design should be now known as Inspiration ‘Bruna’.

Comport in Opalesque ‘Bruna’                                              plate in Opalesque ‘Kelverne’

Comport in Inspiration ‘Morning Glory’

Opalesque ‘Kelverne’ (pattern number 6414)

A spray of six brown leaves, on a branched stem, forms the principal motif. This is balanced by six horizontal and one vertical bands of colour. The horizontal bands, sequenced from the bottom, are decorated in fawn, brown, fawn, pale brown, yellow and fawn. The vertical band of blue is defined at either border by pink lines.

Opalesque ‘Bruna’ (pattern number 6415)
A branched tree in brown, fawn and yellow sits atop a hill composed by bands of the same colour. Eight yellow leaves hang from two branches. At either extremity of the hill arise flowers in yellow, blue and fawn. Yellow leaves accompany the flowers. The background is decorated in pale blue glaze.

Pattern 6414 could be called Opalesque ‘Kelverne’ as it is identical in layout and composition to a part of the ‘Kelverne’ pattern. The author has seen an example of Opalesque ‘Rhodanthe’ which would have been a particularly difficult design to paint on a pitted surface using oxides. Another design in the Opalesque range is Opalesque ‘Stencil Deer’ (see The Rich Designs of Clarice Cliff ISBN 0-9526354-1-0  page 158).
 

The Opalesque range was introduced about 1934 and continued in production for more than a year. The impressed marks on the pieces illustrating this article are for March and August 1935. The backstamp is a standard Bizarre one and was applied underglaze by rubber stamp. Such backstamps it may be difficult to discern because of the coloured glaze covering. The name “Opalesque” is not credited as part of the backstamp.

It would seem that Opalesque was not common in Australia. The author has only ever seen plates or cake stands. It would be interesting to know whether this technique was ever applied to cups or vases.

The cool blue and spare decoration characteristic of this line were very much a part of Miss Cliff’s gradual changing of style in the mid 1930’s. Although Opalesque is restrained in character, it possesses quiet charm. It will sit uneasily amongst a display of highly coloured Bizarre ware (as does Inspiration) but is better appreciated when positioned with such designs as ‘Aura’ (blue) and other, quieter designs.

As Opalesque does not have a distinctive backstamp nor does it look like a characteristic Bizarre item, it is not easily recognised by many dealers as something unusual. Hence collectors may acquire an example from this rare series at a low price.