Transferware History - How It Was Made

Transferware has made a comeback in home decorating. The beautiful designs and colors blend well into today's looks and styles. There are many to choose from ... do you have a style or color you like?

Here is a little bit of history on how it was made from Eras of Elegance.com:

"English transferware" refers to ceramics (china, ironstone, etc.) which has been glazed using a specific decorative treatment, and traditionally produced in Staffordshire, England. Popular manufacturers of transferware include Spode, Ridgway, Adams, Clews, Johnson Brothers, and Wedgwood. The transfer printing process was developed by John Sadler and Guy Green of Liverpool in 1756. The process uses copper plates on which a pattern or design is etched. The copper plate is inked and the pattern "transferred" to a special tissue. The inked tissue is then laid onto a bisque-fired ceramic item, which is then glazed and fired again. Initially, patterns were transferred to the ceramic items after glazing, but the ink often wore off. This "underprinting" is characteristic to transferware; if you look closely at a transferware item, you can often see where the transfer design ends. Often these are the areas where the pattern doesn't quite match.

Transfer printing was originally produced in single-color items only, with the favorite hues in blue, red, black, brown, purple and green. Brown tended to be rather a common and inexpensive color, while blue was the most sought after and expensive color. Later, technology developed to allow double or triple color transfers."

The process of transferring the images onto porcelain and china became popular and obviously much cheaper than handpainting each piece so they sold quickly to middle class families. I'm not sure which color I like the best.

Check out our Bella Rosa Antiques website and click under "Vintage China" for more. While you're there, sign our guestbook, we're having our Grand Opening Giveaway! Win a $15.00 voucher towards merchandise/shipping....we'll select a winner this week on May 1st!