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At Burleigh we make the antiques of tomorrow
Burleigh has a rich heritage of design and craftmanship. Generation after generation have produced beautiful earthenware from our Victorian Middleport factory.
We process the clay from raw ingredients, giving us a special control in the fine quality of our earthenware product, and are still using some original 19th century machinery to do this.
Underglaze transfer printing is our speciality at Burleigh. This labour intensive decorating method has been in use for over 200 years. We are now the last English pottery company that still continues this traditional and highly skilled hand decorating process.
After the clay piece has first been fired to “biscuit”, the decorating process is then as follows:
1) The tissue paper is printed from a hand-engraved copper roller. The tissue rolls off the printing machine and is then carefully cut out by a transferrer.
2) The tissue is applied to the biscuit ware, and is rubbed on with a brush and soft soap.
3) The tissue paper is then finally washed off leaving the pattern transferred onto the biscuit piece.
4) The piece is fired again to harden on the pattern. It is then dipped in glaze and fired for a third time, leaving the pattern under the glaze, thus ensuring that the pattern will never fade or wear off.
We believe that, in this age of transitory mass-produced machine products, it is reassuring that this skill survives and the product is highly sought after.
We are proud to still make a unique and beautiful pure English product in the 21st Century, using the timeless skills of Stoke-on-Trent.
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