A selection of wares from the Ruskin Pottery in 'high fired' reduction glazesA selection of the ceramic plaques made by the Ruskin PotteryA group of Ruskin Pottery soufflé, 1905-1913
The pottery produced was notable for the innovative glazes used on a range of brightly coloured pots, vases, buttons, bowls, tea services and jewellery. The ceramic glazes devised by William Howson Taylor included misty soufflé glazes, ice crystal effect glazes - 'crystalline', lustre glazes resembling metallic finishes, and the most highly regarded of all, sang-de-boeuf and flambé glazes which produced a blood red effect. The sang-de-boeuf glazes were created using reduction of copper and iron oxides at high temperature. This was a difficult technique, first developed in China in the 13th century and reinvented by several art potters in Europe in the late 19th century. William Howson Taylor was one of the principal exponents of 'high fired' techniques, producing a range of colours and unique 'fissured' glaze effects.
When the studio closed in 1935 the formulae for the glazes and all the pottery documentation were deliberately destroyed, so that the unique Ruskin products could never be replicated.
A large collection of Ruskin Pottery is on public display at Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery, Wednesbury, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of the factory. The collection is owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and is managed by Sandwell Museum Service.
The site of the factory is now an industrial estate, "Ruskin Place". A blue plaque marking the site, erected by the Smethwick Local History Society, was subsequently stolen.[2]
References
^Garland, A., 'Art and the Drama', pp. 110-119, in Lincoln, Nineteen Hundred & Thirty Six, National Association of Head Teachers 1936 Conference, 1936, p. 115