Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Mr. Goss has continued to manufacture this dainty variety of porcelain
until the present time, and his factory has become one of the most
noted in the British empire. Among the most popular of his productions
in this body are loving cups and little cream jugs, cups and saucers,
and fairy tea sets embellished with beautifully colored crests and
coats of arms of the different English cities and of prominent
personages, such as Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, King Henry of
Navarre, Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, Shakespeare, Sir Walter
Scott, and Robert Burns.
Of more interest, perhaps, to Americans are the porcelain tumblers
which have just been produced at the same factory, bearing on the
front a faithful duplication in blue and yellow enamels of the
insignia of the society of Sons of the Revolution, which were made at
the suggestion of a member of the society in Pennsylvania. The soft,
satiny Belleek body seems to be particularly well adapted to show off
to advantage the rich designs of these badges, and this suggestion
will doubtless be followed by other patriotic hereditary societies in
the United States.
John Hart Brewer, of Trenton, first attempted the manufacture of
Belleek ware in this country. He commenced his experiments in this
line in 1882, and in the following year brought over from England
William Bromley and his son from the Belleek works in Ireland.
Subsequently the elder Bromley joined the Willets Manufacturing
Company, of the same place, and introduced the manufacture of eggshell
porcelain there, and at the present time there are no less than five
or six establishments in Trenton where the same class of ware is made.
Among many specialties recently introduced is a new style of
decoration which has been worked out by Miss Kate Sears, a Kansas girl
who studied modeling in Boston. Going to Trenton for the purpose of
pursuing her studies in this direction, one day in 1891, while engaged
in working over the wet Belleek, the idea of carving delicate designs
in the dry clay occurred to her, and after conducting a series of
experiments her efforts were crowned with success. The process of
modeling which Miss Sears has originated is as follows: A vase or
other piece which has been formed in the wet clay and dried is taken
before it has been in the kiln, and with knives or other tools the
design is cut or chiseled so as to leave the background as thin and
transparent as possible when finished. As the dry Belleek, besides
being thin, is extremely brittle, and crumbles easily, the carving is
an exceedingly difficult operation. It is necessarily a very slow
process, since at any moment the knife is liable to cut through the
wall and ruin the piece.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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