BLACK RYDEN PLC (2003/2005) 10cm VASE.
(In January 2003 Moorcroft Pottery and sister company Cobridge ...

BLACK RYDEN PLC (2003/2005) 10cm VASE.
(In January 2003 Moorcroft Pottery and sister company Cobridge Stoneware announced the launch of Black Ryden PLC. The Trade Minister Nigel Griffiths MP marked the event by cutting the tape on Stand G2 at the Birmingham International Fair on 3 February 2003 to launch Black Ryden's inaugural art pottery exhibition.
Black Ryden was the second new art pottery to emerge from the Moorcroft stable, the first having been Cobridge Stoneware in 1998. Original design work and shape prototypes for Black Ryden were first developed on earthenware bodies within Cobridge Stoneware. Experimentation and research married together two old techniques of surface decoration, the first being the art of sgraffito and the second being 'upbrush'. Upbrush is a means of applying powdered colour derived from metallic oxides mixed with water.

The fine colour particles are literally pushed uphill in their watery cocoon. Fine brushwork and superb manual control enable the painter to push the colours across the clay surface areas defined by the sgraffito artist on the pot. The water sinks into the dry clay body, leaving the colour particles on the surface. On completion of the first firing, the colour melts and fuses with the body of the vase. After a second firing, deep rich colours shine through a special glaze to produce images with a depth of colour likened by some to precious stones.
Designer Kerry Goodwin was one of a small team responsible for the development of the upbrush technique. "At first I was surprised when my boss, Hugh Edwards, the Moorcroft Chairman, asked me to investigate the potential of upbrush work. Sian Leeper and Emma Bossons, two design colleagues, joined me and during 2002 a dream became a reality, " said Kerry.)