Clay, Hands and Fire

[Music] shall I pour yes please do isn't this a new service rather oh it's lovely apart from being spoed it has another particular significance for [Music] me it's the very pattern I saw being made while I was visiting sto on Trent really how interesting quite a revelation going through one of those great potteries I should imagine so do tell us about it I can do even better than just telling you I can show you exactly what I saw myself why you took Motion Pictures exactly and in about 2 seconds we'll have them on the screen I don't think many of us realize the years of skill and the labor that go into the making of fine wear so for a permanent record I took this film as I went through the spoed [Music] works what you are seeing now is the birthplace of present day China and earthware the potteries in Staffordshire and in the center of this district is the town of stoon Trent where Josiah spod established his company in 1770 part of spo's Fame was due to his Perfection of the underglaze engraving process which made it possible for us to have the thousands of patterns that we now see in modern din [Music] Weare two descendants of spode's first partner are the present owners and active heads of the company today Ronald and Gresham Copeland they were kind enough to arrange for us to have a personally conducted tour of the works and pointed out many of the technical details that are generally unknown to the public we started in the yards where the crude Clay is stored does it all come from Stafford here no none of the local Clay is suitable for such fine wear as Spode though clay from staffer has been used for rough Pottery since the time of the Romans China clay and China Stone come from Cornwall ball Clay is brought from [Music] devire it's analyzed for Quality before it's accepted and then it's left to weather and mature for five 5 to 10 years after that it starts on its long and interesting Journey from Potter's mixture to fine din Weare they break the crude Clays into small pieces and in carefully weighed proportions they are mixed with water then it is beaten and [Music] quipped equipped until the particles of clay are so fine that they can actually be suspended in the water when the consistency of the mixture has been carefully checked by weighing this creamy white liquid is further refined at this stage of the process the mixture is known as slip after it has gone through these [Music] agitators it passes through a series of ss each finer than the one before and the last so fine that even ordinary face powder won't pass through it the finer the SI the fine of the wear then it's allowed to trickle over a series of electromagnets magnets for making Earth and wear well you see if any iron were left in the clay it would cause black spots on the finished wear this liquid Clay is only used for making certain cast pieces [Music] but most types of clay wear need clay that is plastic and doughy so the water is squeezed out of it that thin mixture we saw being made is pumped with high pressure into folds of fine mesh cloth after 24 hours the water has seeped out and the residue is Clay that's stiff as putty these men are getting ready for the pug [Music] mill the still acts somewhat like an overgrown food chopper but its chief purpose is to cut and squeeze the clay until there isn't the slightest chance of air bubbles remaining in [Music] it looks like metal when it comes out doesn't it yet it's actually about the consistency of butter but it's still not ready for use from the pug mill it goes into cellers to mature for at least another 10 days before it's put into the hands of the Potter these chaps are really known as throw they take a shapeless lump of clay spin it on the potter's wheel and well see it take shape for yourself is all of the earth and wear made that way no no just the pieces of regular shape now you'll notice that this fellow only finishes the inside of that piece the finishing of the outside is the work of the Turner [Music] take this fellow for example he's working on an egg cup turning it on a [Music] lathe Heavens that clay must be as strong as wood seems that way doesn't it the way those shavings come off incidentally the better the wear the more it weighs because the particles of clay are so firmly packed together together why that's relation to me make the test yourself sometime you'll find that spod for example is much heavier than ordinary Earth and [Music] we here's a curious Relic it's an old foot power lathe the kind used before the Machine age of course none of them are used today in this comparatively simple operation of plate making a lump of clay is flattened out on a revolving table then just like dough that has been rolled out for pie crust it's laid over a plaster of Paris mold which forms the top surface of the plate while a profile shapes the back [Music] but dish or platter making requires more skill in any other phase of potting except for preparing the sheet of clay and using a plaster Paris mold every operation is done by hand [Music] I was told that no mechanical means has ever been found to equal the quality that comes from the handwork of the old craftsman he gives it just the right shape and even thickness remember this painstaking hand operation next time you compare the prices of platters and plates [Music] the cup [Music] maker this is what they call jollying why I don't know probably Old English at any rate it's the process used for making cups ballls and similar [Music] shapes then come the handles he's taking his first step toward becoming a master Potter carrying on the tradition of generations before a bit of clay thinned with water is the adhesive dip them in Stick them on wipe them off and after the cup has been fired the handle and Joint are one and the same piece looks simple but it takes a practiced eye and steady hand plus plenty of experience to do this simple job [Music] perfectly articles like this teapot and covered dishes sugar bowls gravy boats and such are often made by casting first this fellow fills the mold with slip that thin liquid clay as the plaster p soaks up the water and layer of clay is formed on the sides of the mold after a few minutes this becomes the thickness of the finished piece and the rest of the slip is poured out but it's still not dry enough to be removed before the following day then the straining holes are punched in [Music] and finally the spout and handle are mounted on delicate little operations that call for sure touch and master [Music] craftsmanship what do they use to make those extra pieces stay on the same liquid clay that we saw being made originally no other adhesive is used [Music] a sight that intrigued me was to see the girls carrying the wear into what they call the greenhouse where the green or unfired wear is left to dry for a day it looks terribly precarious to me yet it's almost unheard of for them to drop one of those loads when the wear comes from the green house it's carefully packed in saggers is that another Old English term it's a Corruption of Safeguard and that's precisely what those spoed dishes need to protect them from the Flames of the [Music] ovens sagers last through only three or four fires and then have to be replaced old Burton the sagger maker is the fifth generation of his family who have made sagas for SPO and many other workers are descendants of men who worked for SPO when he started his business the green wear is packed in Flint sand to keep the pieces apart the first firing takes 2 days at temperatures that would completely burn up steel but this terrific heat turns fine clay into hard durable wear the thousands of patterns that are used on spod are under the guardianship of Thomas Hassel art director of The Works [Music] old patterns that have come down since the founding of the company are still used and like The Originals the new Engravings of them are tooled by hand for simple dinner Service as many as 30 or 40 individual Engravings are [Music] required I was interested to see that the handling of these Engraving is as much a work of art as the making of a fine [Music] etching each plate cup or Bowl requires a separate engraving or print carefully surfaced with a special [Music] color then it is printed on an Etching Press on wet tissue [Music] worthy of being framed isn't it those old spoed patterns are true masterpieces of Engraving the printed tissues then go to these girls who deafly transfer them onto the wear incidentally the wear at this stage is called biscuit unglazed and still porous so that when the tough paper with its impression of the engraving is rubbed strenuously the color of the moist ink will be absorbed by the wear then when the tissue is washed off an imperishable pattern is left on the wear is ever design printed no only one color is ever printed any additional colors are painted in by [Music] hand here's Mrs Priestly for instance she's 82 now has worked for spoed all her life a simple outline of the figure was first transformed onto the unglazed biscuit wear then she Paints in all the Colors by hand it's only when the wear has an entire pattern of a single color that no additional painting is required and here's Mrs Turner painting a Toby jug she and Mrs Priestley are supervisors of groups of artists the skill and delicacy of this hand coloring is really wonderful to see imagine doing what this woman is doing with only her ey to guide her she paints a line on a source booat just the right width just the right place and never a [Music] [Music] slip before in the oils that have been used in the colors are dried out in revolving electric kils here's a mechanical process that's that's the most modern thing of its type while spoe holds to the conviction that nothing can replace the fine craftsmanship of human hands whenever anything mechanical can be improved upon they they they're quick to do it after the drying the wear is ready for the glaze oh but he's covering up all that beautiful design what you see there is a mixture of finely powdered glass and water the Dipper as this fellow is called spreads it evenly over the entire surface of each piece moving shelves take the wear through a heated chamber that dries out all the water in the liquid glass leaving a surface that looks like like talcum powder [Music] then the wear is again put in Saget this time to melt the powdered glass and transform it into heavy glaze which protects the wear enriches the colors in the pattern [Music] clay hands and fire the quality of each determines the quality of the finished wear and here it is with every color glowing brilliantly through the rich heavy glaze [Music] down to the very last inspection there's a tradition of fine craftsmanship in the making of This famous wear a tradition that has survived from one generation to another in people all of them Craftsmen artists and men and women whose pride in their work is reflected in the beauty and enduring quality of their product which we enjoy so unthinkingly every day yet it is that pride of craftsmanship which makes one proud to be the possessor of wear as fine as SPO I realize that now a teacup but never again will it be just a teac [Music] a [Music]