Day Six: All the Pottery!

It’s a big driving day so I was out of the B&B and in the car by 7 am. I got out on the freeway and hit traffic a short while in, which cut down my battery mileage just enough that I needed to find a charging station between Bath and Stoke-on-Trent to top off so that I could make it the whole way.

I stopped off in a little town called Catshill right outside of Birmingham and sat in the car park for a bit while the battery charged up, and ate a bit of breakfast while I waited. I continued on to Stoke-on-Trent as soon as I got to 60% battery since I didn’t want to sit in a random pharmacy car park for half an hour.

I made it to the World of Wedgwood outside Stoke-on-Trent around 10:30 and booked a factory tour for 11:15, so I had 45 minutes to leisurely walk through the V&A Wedgwood Collection on site. It’s huge.

Examples of different colors of Jasperware. Including the signature Wedgwood blue.

Wedgwood originally became known for using colored, unglazed clay bodies decorated with white press-molded ornamentations, which they call Jasperware. The product is a piece of pottery that has a distinctive classical look, which Wedgwood carried through to decorative cameos that became popular as buttons and pins.

Intricate Jasperware cameos and portraits.

They are also known for luxury bone china, and the walk through the museum is like walking through the historical china trends for the last 200 years.

So many things I want to try when I get home…

I made it through the museum right before the factory tour started. They allow us right into the factory floor where all the potters and artists are working, so no photos are allowed since they have unreleased patterns in progress.

I took a couple of photos of the explanatory posters before the tour started.

Factory pottery methods are very different than thrown or hand built pottery in that they used molds, chucks and chums, and other tools to emulate human hands in the pottery making process, and thereby standardize how pieces are made (and dramatically speed up the process). In the span of 5 minutes I watched one man use a machine to cut a measured slice of pugged clay, use another to spin it into a flattened slab, and a third to press and trim it into a saucer—and do it another 10 times.

While he was cutting and flinging clay into the recycle bin I saw a bit hit the floor on the other side of the barricade and surreptitiously absconded with it. The chemical composition of this clay is as tightly guarded of a secret as Coke. I’m going to fire it and sit it on a shelf. Because clay geek.

I’m pretty sure this is the signature blue jasperware clay. Cobalt doesn’t turn blue until the bisque firing. We will have to see!

The rest of the tour we got to see people applying pressed molded pieces, gilding and enameling pots, and making pieces from molds. It’s really neat and though a lot more industrial than throwing, it’s nice to see that it’s still a very manual effort, which is why the pieces are worth so much.

After the tour I looked through the display room and picked out a pattern I’m going to buy for myself when I get home. I’m far too nervous to buy it here and attempt to bring it on a plane.

So many pretty things, but the Wild Strawberry pattern was my favorite.

I headed out of Wedgwood into Stoke-on-Trent to visit the only remaining fully complete coal-fired pottery factory in Stoke-on-Trent (possibly the entire UK?). I had a bit of drama (of course…) trying to locate a super charger for the car, but after driving for half a block the wrong way down a one way street, I got the car plugged in and charging, then walked a block to the Gladstone Pottery Museum.

Walking into the museum is like walking back in time. It’s so surreal…

I walked through the pottery, looking at the coal-fired bottle kilns, the decoration rooms, and the mold making studio.

Making pottery is still dangerous (we do know how to be safer about it now), but the thought of children working in coal-fired factories, with silica and lead in the air and in the glazes, is horrifying…

After poking around upstairs I found the glaze storeroom. My people!

But seriously, look at all these test tiles!!

After tearing myself away from all the colors, I visited the two exhibits for tiles and (*ahem*) porcelain thrones.

So many different and interesting ways to decorate with ceramics. This has definitely tempted me into making handmade tiles for my future fireplace…

And while a bit funny, ceramics actually played a very important role in transforming modern sanitation. So the entire exhibit on toilets and plumbing is actually a vital step for health and safety.

It might be nice to have fancier toilets like Queen Victoria did though…

I headed back to the car (which was thankfully fully charged) and headed on to Derbyshire, where Pemberly/Chatsworth is located. The countryside is beautiful and reminded me of driving through Scotland. Gorse and heather with green fields filled with sheep. I would have taken some photos along the way but the roads were busy and it had moments where I felt like I was driving through Cairngorm again.

I made it to the Devonshire Arms in Baslow at 3 pm, got checked into my room, and then took a quick detour to the Erye Arms, just down the road, which has a super charger. I decided to get a drink and a snack while I waited for the car to charge up.

I got back to the Devonshire Arms and settled down to organize my souvenirs and download The Duchess to watch tonight, while I waited for dinner.

I had a nice dinner and the movie had downloaded by the time I was back upstairs so I settled down for a relaxing night in.