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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Pearlware/Creamware FEATHEREDGE

The simple design yet very elegant appeal - FeatherEdge stoneware/china - - dishes that are known as featheredge creamware pottery was produced by many 18th and 19th century pottery companies.

Close up view of edge
 
 

Creamware is a cream-coloured, refined earthenware created about 1750 by the potters of Staffordshire, England, which proved ideal for domestic ware. It was popular until the 1840s.
It served as an inexpensive substitute for Chinese export porcelain. The most notable producer of creamware was Josiah Wedgwood. Around 1779, he was able to lighten the cream colour to a bluish white using cobalt in the lead overglaze. Wedgwood sold this more desirable product under the name pearl ware.

Each company that made creamware, also sometimes called pearlware, had several variations in design, depending on the artists design concept. Each company had its own design pattern for the featheredge used on a given item. The pottery piece was formed from a soft paste clay, and glazed in cream color, with a color used at the edge that slightly bled into the cream color. The edges also possessed an impressed design, hence the name featheredge. There were several colors used for the color at the edge. Color's such as: hues of green, red, yellow, and blue.

Feather Edge Ware, also known as Shell Edge Ware, (most collectors today use term featheredge), was used in the housholds of all classes for everyday use. It was made mainly in the Staffordshire and Leeds areas of England and exported to many areas of the world. The United States was the main importer. It was made with salt glaze stoneware, whiteware, pearlware, creamware and ironstone bodies. The older pieces have incised designs on the edge.



Feather Edge is a period term used by English potters and American importers for common 18th century creamware items having an embossed “comma-like” rim design. The term is specifically used in pattern books published by Wedgwood, Leeds, Castleford and the Don Pottery. It is most often found on plates and platters, but occasionally appears on hollowwares.

There are alot of collectors for featheredge stoneware/china. It is difficult to find and therefore rather pricey.  You will find more of the colbalt flow blue edge than the other colors. Some pieces will have minor chips or cracks, which are also collected, and priced accordingly.  This just proves how hard it is to find. We have been fortunate to purchase several platters, soup bowls, and plates from someone who hunted for and collected it for 40 years.
 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

BAKELITE--Some History and Facts

Bakelite Mahjong Game Tiles

OK WHAT IS BAKELITE?
Bakelite is another name for phenolic resin, an early form of plastic. Today, objects made from Bakelite are considered highly collectible, although in its glory days of the 1930s and 1940s, it was seen as an inexpensive alternative to high-end jewelry materials such as jade and pearl. One of its original uses was for pool balls. It is collectible in all its forms, including jewelry, buttons, radio cases, lamps, dresser sets, plus many more items. Bakelite could be used for electric insulators or as an insulating coating for automotive wiring.

Bakelite Bangle Bracelets

Necklace

Necklace

Belgian-born chemist named Leo Baekeland used his profits from the sale of Velox, a film treatment used by newspapers, to set up an independent lab in Yonkers, New York around the year 1901. Dr. Baekeland spent several years working on a durable coating for the lanes of bowling alleys, similar to today's protective polyurethane floor sealants. He combined carbolic acid and formaldehyde to form phenolic resin. This resin would remain pourable long enough to apply to hardwood flooring, but then become insoluble and impermeable after curing. Dr. Baekeland patented this early form of plastic and started his own Bakelite corporation around 1910.

I have included some photos so you can see just a small amount of the variety of items that were made. Probably the most desireable collected bakelite is jewelry, radios, and game pieces.
.
Marbles
Razors


Flatware
Figurene


Purses

Baby Crib Toy

Buttons & Buckles
 
















The below video will show you how to check your item to discover if it really is bakelite or just another form of plastic.



Below is a slideshow to show another way to verify besides the cream
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/louisville_199803A03_ss.html

Friday, July 12, 2013

Repurposing

My My My how time flies.
I haven't made a blog post since April. I apoligize for not getting the job done. I have the excuse of being sooooooo busy that I have fallen short. Being busy is great and I thank the community and my customers for the success.
 But now back to all business matters, I will start
with a post about repurposing.

Washboards hinged as door fronts on a cabinet missing doors
 
 

 
Galvanized Tubs made into outdoor chairs

As I have said in the past, if a collectible or antique is damaged then by all means rescue it by repairing or repurposing in a new fashion, but please do not destroy an original in good condition. Why, because you devalue that item drastically.
Also there are plenty of old items to be repurposed just by being creative and not having to refurbish or alter. An example below: Just hanging an old iron heat register vent on the wall with a new purpose.
Iron Grate used to hold mail
Old Mason Jars used as storage for dry goods
Wood Stairs used as bedside table, could also be used just to display cherished items
Iron Fence topped with old wood for an entry table

So have I gotten your creative imagination going yet?  

 
 
How about now?
 
 
 
Ok that is it for now. Find what speaks to you, truly consider what an antique or collectible can say about you and your home, then go for it.