Materials & Techniques

Originally made from a raw sienna-colored clay known as "K Marl," caneware has been used mainly for the production of tableware. When mixed with silica (sand) for greater resistance to heat, it was used to simulate pie crust in the once-popular game pie dishes. 

Named for (and not to be confused with) the deep red Grecian marble once used by the ancient Romans, this ceramic ware was made from 1775 to about 1920. It is found in tableware and decorative pieces, usually with basalt reliefs in the Greek and Egyptian style, with enameled decorations.

This is a fine kind of porcelain first developed by Josiah Wedgwood. White in its natural state, it is stained with metallic oxide coloring agents to achieve shades of pale blue, dark blue, lilac, sage green, black, and yellow, though blue and white ware is most common. Used for cameos, vases, plaques, tableware, furniture mounts, and portrait medallions.

In 1660, after a decade of somber Puritanical rule, the English welcomed the return to monarchy under King Charles II with an outpouring of joy and new wealth and thirty years of extravagant Baroque style.

Appliqué is a technique of decorating by adding materials to a cloth's surface. The artist cuts out pieces of cloth of different colors, textures, and shapes and then stitches them onto the foundation cloth.

The history of the mobile picture frame begins in the 16th and 17th centuries with the emergence of easel painting. Mirrors have a much longer history. The Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans used polished bronze to admire their reflections. In 625 A.D., Pope Boniface IV gave a silver mirror to the Queen of Northumbria. In the middle ages polished metal or glass backed with thin sheets of metal was used.

Glassware shaped by blowing air through a blowpipe into a glob of molten glass.