Gallery of Glazes - Aerograph

A glazing technique giving the impression of a textured finish.

B.112 - Aerograph glaze

This week I'm showing casing a fabulous technique achieved by airbrushing two or more underglazes in different directions producing a colour gradient, and in doing so giving the impression of a textured finish.

If you enjoy looking at glazes, please check out my previous Gallery of Glazes - Stardust post.

B.115 - Footed dish - Blue / Green Aerographed Glaze

Cameron Brown had a fascination for glazes, not only creating his own colour combinations but also adjusting firing temperatures to achieve various results. One of his greatest achievements was the aerographed glazes. By spraying coloured underglazes in different directions, over each other, they created a bumpy effect. However, after trial and error he perfected the technique, including the firing temperature. The pieces are finished in clear gloss. He managed to create what appears to be a fine sandy finish that is perfectly smooth. Below are some examples. Cam Jnr proudly tells me no other pottery company was producing this aerographed glaze effect at the time.

B.115 Footed dish - Brown / Pink Aerographed Glaze

The most common aerographed glaze is 'Stonehenge'. You'll find it on a variety of pieces post 1957. It comes with a tinge of green or blue. The Paramount Art Ware sticker gives an indication the NX502-20 vase below was sold throught Farmers Trading Company's china department at Farmers Trading Company. 

NX502-20 - Aerographed Stonehenge Glaze

Stonehenge is the base glaze of the *Lascaux Caves stencil decoration. I only have the tennis set (cup and saucer) but I've seen a steak plate, a lamp and a 'hippie' jug.  

 

Unmarked Lascaux Caves Stonehenge TV set (on an aerographed glazed base)

Two other aerographed colouring you may not be aware of are, 'Pebble' and 'Hammer'. The pebble glaze was created using black and brown underglazes and was used on the original Titian Egyptian pieces made at Henderson and later at Takanini. 

Titian Studio Egyptian examples


Egyptian Tall Jug - Pebble glaze

  Egyptian Footed Charger - Pebble glaze

There are seven shapes with the embossed Egyptian decoration: The Footed Charger, Carafe, Amphora (ginger jar), 'S' handle Ewer, Tall Pouring Jug, B.102 (double handled trough vase), and the Double Handled Urn Vase.

If you look carefully, you'll see the Egyptian images on the footed chargers are slightly different. My son bought me the Titian example and it wasn't until we put it beside the Aquila version that we saw the differences. The reason for this is due to the abruptness of the Browns and Crown Lynn separating in 1971. Many of the moulds, including the Egyptian series, were left behind.  

 

Aquila Egyptian Footer Charger (base) - Hammer glaze

The Hammer glaze is aerographed with two brown underglazes. The glaze effect is lighter than pebble and was used on the Aquila Egyptian series after the Cameron and Dorothy Brown left Crown Lynn in 1971 and started up Orzel Industries in Drury. 

Aquila Egyptian Amphora Pot (Ginger Pot) - Hammer glaze


Aquila Egyptian Ewer - Hammer glaze

Stonehenge glaze on a OW.301 (Cambridge) Casserole Dish

I've tried to match glaze images from the original 'recipe' books. However, some of the less obvious ones are based on Cam Jnr's memory. The two of us have tried to match up names with glazes. I'm still collecting as many specialised glazes as I can for identification. I'll work my way through what I have at this stage in my Gallery of Glazes posts. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I'm up to. 

You are welcome to check out my other Gallery of Glazes blog posts - Stardust and Crackle Lustre

Happy days,

Louise

*The Lascaux Caves in France were discovered in 1940. Here's the Trip Advisor link for more information. 

©Louise de Varga 2022 - Content and pictures in this blog 














Comments

  1. Ev16 September 2022 at 12:42

    As a potter, these are my favourite glazes. Thanks Louise.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christopher Barron16 September 2022 at 14:12

    Great article Louise - always learning is fun

    ReplyDelete
  3. Val Monk17 September 2022 at 03:01

    Thank you Louise for researching this, and thank you Cam for remembering it all! I am puzzling my way through the crossovers with Orzel, so it's helpful to me too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

B.102 - Double Handled Footed Vase

Image
  One vase shape in multiple glazes B.102 Grey Stone with Wheat decoration The raised ear of wheat was incorporated into various mould designs. The wheat image was carefully wiped to reveal the white body underneath. Many of pieces that have the wheat pattern aren't numbered but instead have a Presley Ware sticker.  B.102 Pink with Gold handles This is my absolute favourite B.102 vase. I've only seen one other gold handled piece, owned by another collector, in pale green with gold handles. B.102 Mahogany Woodgrain B.102 Oak Woodgrain From 1957, Cameron Brown alongside Teddy Rennie, created the woodgrain glaze in oak and mahogany.  A light brown glaze was  airbrushed onto the pieces, then fine lines of darker brown painted over the top.  George Courts of Karangahape Road and John Courts in Queen Street bought £3,000 worth of Woodgrain earthenware and had their whole shop windows full of it. B.102 Pink and Grey   B.102 Black outer, Yellow inner B.102 Colbalt From what I've re
Read more

WV.104 - Swoose Wall Vase

Image
So what exactly is a Swoose? Prototype Swoose  - from the collection of Jack* & Rose Brown The yellow Swoose Wall Vase is heavy and chunky indicating the slip was left in the mould for longer than necessary. Also, the glaze is excessively thick. The reverse has three raised firing feet and a keyhole hanging hole, the same as the Sherwood Gainsborough Blue Boy and Pinkie Wall Vase. Here's the link to the Sherwood blog showing the wall vase. Dave Jenkin and Cameron Brown were both dying of cancer. At one of Dave’s last visits to his friend, they chuckled whilst reminiscing over their long friendship and their time in the pottery industry. Cam Jnr quietly listened to their great memories. Both men died in 2002, only a few weeks apart. They had worked at Crown Lynn together in 1948/49 and became great friends. Dave was Crown Lynn’s chief design artist. He designed some very well known pieces including Crown Lynn's earthenware ' Expo '70 Legend of Maui, Sushi Platter &
Read more

It's an Itsy Bitsy Spider Vase

Image
 Look away now if you don't like spiders! Sherwood Spider Vase - Side one The original spider vases, with the hand-painted black spider, were made during the Sherwood era , sometime between 1949 and 1954 at Waitakere. A rather realistic spider waits patiently for its next meal on a web strung between two branches. Pinecones sit at the base of this triangular vase.  Why do I like these vases? They remind me of webs sparkling with dew at dawn in our native garden we planted over twenty years ago. I try to be aware of them not only for their beauty, but because they're soooo sticky if you walk into one at head height. Never been one for spiders though, especially the huntsman that come in unexpectedly through our windows. I've only briefly met a white tail spider and that was inside the hood of my raincoat I'd just put on. Danny spotted it and told me, 'Stand Still!! Stand Very Still!!' before flicking it away.   Sherwood Spider Vase (Side two) With the early examp
Read more