Bristol Museum Visit

Earlier this week, my colleague Paul and I visited Bristol Museum where we were given access to the collection of Bristol underglaze transfer wares.

3 plates with the same pattern. There is huge variance in ink weight, colour and glaze.

Although it was interesting to look at the pieces themselves, I found the box of tissue samples to be far more intriguing. There were folders full of printed tissues depicting a huge range of subject matter, many engraved with a different style. I was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the samples had a lot of scummy, inky marks on them.

This suggests that the plate wiping wasn’t fundamental for the success of the process. From my experiments, I’ve found that a certain level of scum is acceptable as the thin layer dries so quickly that it never transfers onto the ware. This could be of significance to my Burleigh trails as the rubber which I’ve been working with has a very slight tooth to it.

Hotel back stamps on tissue