IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE DECORATION OF ARTICLES OF EARTHENWARE to be as follows:-
Year: 1884

page_text: I, WILLIAM FORESTER of Phoenix Works Longton in the County of Stafford
Earthenware Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE DECORATION OF ARTICLES OF EARTHENWARE
to be as follows:-
=
"
This Invention has for its object improvements applicable to the decoration of
articles of earthenware.
When decorating vases and other articles of earthenware I proceed as follows:-
I take the article before burning and produce the outline of my design thereon
by bold incised lines cut into the surface by means of a graving tool or point.
I then form a ground to the design so outlined by applying to the surface
previously prepared fragments or small particles of clay causing them to adhere
by means of slip or clay mixed with water to a fluid consistency. I then burn the
article and afterwards I glaze it all over with a white or colored glaze. When the
article has been reburnt the glaze appears as a smooth transparent colored surface
over the design but amongst the " mossing" or particles forming the ground, the
glaze is absorbed and appears only as a tint. At the same time the glaze serves to
attach the mossing very securely to the ground surface.

page_text: "
I WILLIAM FORESTER of Phoenix Works Longton in the County of Stafford
Earthenware Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE DECORATION OF ARTICLES OF EARTHENWARE
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object improvements applicable to the decoration of
articles of earthenware.
When decorating vases and other articles of earthenware I proceed as follows:-
I take the article before burning and produce the outline of my design thereon by
bold incised lines cut into the surface by means of a graving tool or point. I then
form a ground to the design so outlined by applying to the surface previously
prepared fragments or small particles of clay causing them to adhere by means of
slip or clay mixed with water to a fluid consistency. I then burn the article and
afterwards I glaze it all over with a colored glaze. When the article has been
reburnt the glaze appears as a smooth transparent colored surface over the design
but amongst the "mossing" or particles forming the ground the glaze is absorbed
and appears only as a tint. At the same time the glaze serves to attach the
mossing very securely to the ground surface.
Having thus stated the nature of my invention I will proceed to describe more
in detail the manner in which I prefer to carry the same into practice.
A suitable material or body to employ is such as is used for the manufacture of
articles of majolica; in this material the vase or other article is fashioned in the
usual manner.
When the clay or material has become slightly set but is still in a plastic
'condition I proceed to trace the design upon it with a broad metal point, I use the
point in such manner as to throw up a ridge or burr alongside of the incised line.
The entire design having been in this way outlined I proceed thoroughly to dry
the article and then with clay like that from which the vase or article is made
mixed with water to the consistency of cream or what is known as "slip," I paint
over the whole of the ground of the design. Whilst the slip so applied is in a
sticky or tacky state I sprinkle with the hand over the article fragments of clay
previously prepared by a process which I will presently describe. These fraginents
of clay then adhere to the parts of the surface to which the slip has been applied
but to the pattern which has not been so treated they do not adhere.
The vase or article thus prepared is when dry in a condition to go into the kiln
to be burnt in the usual manner. After burning I proceed to glaze the article and
I use for this purpose preferably a lead glaze highly colored blue and red are
suitable colors and I dip the article into the glaze and so cover every part.
The article is then passed into the glazing kiln and again fired to the extent
usual in glazing. In the glazing this peculiar result will be obtained, namely
that the colored glaze will be found to run off from the fragments of clay which
have been applied to the ground leaving them only tinted with the glaze and the
glaze will flow down in the hollows of the incised lines rendering these quite dark
and lustrous, whilst from the burrs thrown up by the tool by the sides of these

page_text: lines the glaze also runs off so that these burrs stand as light lines at the side of
the deeply cut incised lines which they thus serve to emphasise.
The annexed drawing will render the preceding description more clear-it
represents a portion of a design thus produced. The thick lines a. a. are the
grooves produced by the point and filled with the colored glaze so that these appear
as strongly marked dark lines.
b. b. is the ground to the pattern formed by the adhering particles; this ground
conforms to the outline of incised lines a. a. Here the glaze sinks down so as to
leave the ground lighter in color than the figure or pattern.
c. c. the space between the lines a. a. constitutes the figure, here the glaze runs
to form & smooth lustrous surface deeply colored by the glaze but less so than the
lines a where the colored glaze lies thicker. The fine lines d, d. represent the burrs
thrown up by the tool by the side of the lines a. a. From these burrs or angles
the colored glaze runs so as to leave them exposed or but thinly covered and they
appear as fine light lines following the course of the dark lines a. a.
The form or pattern of the design may be greatly varied but the process of
designing remains always the same.
The way in which the fragments of clay are prepared for use in the process
above described is as follows:-
I take a plate of copper perforated with small holes, say about 4 or 5 hundredths
of an inch in diameter. Using this plate as a sieve I rub through it clay or plastic
material similar to that of which the article or vase itself is formed. The clay or
material pas-ing through the holes in the plate will remain adhering to it on the
under side. When a quantity has thus accumulated upon the plate to the thickness
of say of about an inch I pass the plate with the clay upon it into a drying
chamber and thoroughly dry the material. When this has been done the clay
will readily crumble when touched and it is the fragments so produced which
I employ to sprinkle the surface of the vase or other article in the manner already
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The process of decorating articles of earthenware consisting in the following
combination of operations :-
(a) outlining the design with bold incised lines cut into the surface.
(b) applying slip or like adhesive material to the ground of the design as
defined by this outline.
(c) applying prepared fragments or small particles to the surface of the article
in such manner that the same may adhere where the slip or like adhesive material
has been applied but elsewhere.
(d)-after burning-dipping the article into or otherwise applying colored glaze
all over the article and then reburning the same.
The said operation being so conducted that the colored glaze fills the incised
lines of the pattern causing them to appear dark or fully colored and lustrous
whilst it runs from the higher angles or edges bounding the incised lines leaving
the said lines light and also from the fragments applied to the ground of the
pattern which consequently also remain lightly tinted.
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300K