Overglaze hot press printing with oil

Overglaze Printing with Oil by Hot Press

The earliest known full description of ceramic printing, by Brolliet, is based on what he learned in England in 1758. Brolliet’s method used hot press printing on to tissue paper, but combined it with oil transfer and colour dusting (as found in glue bat printing). Actual examples have not yet certainly been identified, but saltglazed stoneware plates may have been printed in this way at Battersea.

A similar method, known as ‘Pluck and Dust’ printing, was in use at the Spode factory from the early 1800s. The tissue paper permitted larger prints than a glue bat. It also enabled the printing of continuous borders, for which the stretchy glue bat was unsuitable. ‘Pluck and Dust’ also made a more finely detailed print than overglaze printing with pigment.

Other mixed methods were probably used, especially in the early years of ceramic printing, but so far we are ignorant of them.