Wedgwood Tiles
Wedgwood were one of the earliest tilemakers suppling creamware tiles to the gentry in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries but tiles were always peripheral to their main business of tableware. They produced a relative small range of decorative tiles considering the longevity of the tile-making business the vast majority of which were made by just two processes, transfer printing and 'Patent Impressed' - Marsden's patent.
Printed Tiles
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Patent Impressed & 'Majolicas'
In the simple process slip coloured with stains was applied to the tiles through a stencil to form the pattern making for consitency in the pattern whilst retaining elements of the look and feel of hand decorated. This stencilled slip process was extended by various hand decorating techniques, dusting the tile with stain to produce a mottled effect on backgrounds, application of coloured majolica glazes, and gilding were used.
Whilst the tiles were a little more expensive to produce there were no significant set up costs, rather than the costly printing plate or moulded die for majolica tiles all that was required were stencils. New patterns could therefore be introduced quickly and cheaply and they were, patent impressed patterns probably approach three thousand in number whereas there seem to be well under a thousand printed designs.
In some cases, the more complex tiles incorporating a number of techniques, the bulk of the decoration was freehand work. These can vary widely in artistic quality some being very fine works and others appearing naive.
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