Ambleside Pottery - Decoration
Ambleside Pottery produced three distinct types of ware - the well known sgraffito ware, picture pots on white clay and reduction fired stoneware often with iron oxide decorations either as on-glaze brush work or worked into designs impressed into the clay.
With sgraffito ware, the underglaze colour was brushed onto the dry, unfired clay using a hand-spun 'banding wheel' with a wooden disk and weight on top to hold it in place. Precise designs were then carved through the colour to expose the white clay. In the 1970s 'picture pots' evolved leaving the panel white and using the same colours to paint a pictoral design. The area surrounding the decorated panel was then brushed over with black underglaze. Rims of deep shaped pots were left bare so they could be stacked rim to rim during biscuit firing and were then glazed and fired again.
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| Typical sgraffito ware | Picture pots | Picture pots from the 1970s |
GLAZING
Thin white glaze was brushed over the coloured panel and then painted over with two layers of molten parafin wax. The rims were then branded with black underglaze, black glaze and hot wax. Thick white glaze was then poured into the pot and tipped out - rejected neatly from the black rim by the wax. The outside was then dipped in black glaze which was, in turn, rejected from the coloured panel by the wax. Shallow pots could be sprayed with glaze, just the rims being hand-painted black and needing only one firing.
Special glazes were developed using wood ashes such as laburnum, sycamore and holly. These unique glazes resulted in the production of stunningly coloured pieces of studio pottery.
Glaze mixing by Tilley lamp during a power cut, February 1974
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| F T Vergauwen applying a black glaze to a plant pot rim after white spraying, 1972 | Cherie Westmoreland incising a design on a jam pot, 1971 (sgraffito). A 2 lb weight on a wooden disk prevents the pot flying off when spinning to 'band' on the colour | Andrew Price decorating a jug. Note how the weight here sits inside the flared top, this also helps to prevent the decorator leaving finger marks on the glaze |
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Sycamore glaze - drained naturally to produce this effect, May 1979 |
Three vases with Sycamore glaze |
Painted with iron oxide then sprayed with 'Dolomite' glaze |
