Dinnerware Decorating Guides

Summary: Guides detailing the general decoration of china patterns and giftware, as well as those for the creation and application of specific colors.

Dinnerware Decorating Guides: Arranged chronologically by approximate date, thereunder alphabetically by guide title. Individual entries within the guides are arranged alphanumerically by pattern code.

Typed, mimeographed and handwritten guides containing specifications for the decoration of production dinnerware. Typical specifications include notations regarding decal and color placement for the various shapes within a given dinnerware set, as well as notations on firing and production times in later guides. Also included in the guides are occasional memoranda regarding company policies and production procedures, as well as photographs. Beginning in the mid-1950s, annotated photographs of decorated dinnerware sets are included for each pattern.

Many of the guides in this sub-series fall into four distinct sequences, sharing common titles, such as "Decorations," "Decorating Specifications . . . Not in Production" (originally titled "Decorating Specifications Covering Patterns Not in Production"), "Printing and Gilding Specifications" and "Standard Decorating Specifications."

Included among the specifications for standard production patterns are those for special china services, some of which are duplicates of entries in the Special Service Decorating Guides. Other special service patterns are represented by a cross-reference to the Special Service Decorating Guides.

Filed at the end of the sub-series is a folder of specifications for several Oxford Bone China and Temperware patterns, followed by decorating shop reference materials, including tables of colors and patterns requiring colored bodies, as well as several handwritten manuals detailing the number of workers required to fully produce specific pieces.

Special Service Decorating Guides: Arranged chronologically by approximate date, thereunder alphabetically by client.

Printed guides containing specifications for the decoration of specially designed china sets for various organizations. Clients typically include state governments and governors, colleges and universities, religious organizations and foreign embassies, as well as groups such as the Colonial Dames. Included in the specifications are annotated photographs.

Many of the guides in this sub-series comprise a single sequence entitled "Special Services."

Filed at the end of the sub-series is a guide devoted specifically to orders from foreign legations and embassies.

Giftware Decorating Guides: Arranged chronologically by approximate date, thereunder by guide title.

Printed and handwritten guides containing specifications for the decoration of various giftware pieces (i.e., collectible plates, vases, pitches, specialty bowls, cigarette boxes, etc.) and lamps. Also included in the guides are photographs.

Included in the guides spanning approximately from 1954 to 1962 are step-by-step manufacturing procedures for certain pieces, annotated photographs of completed pieces and product catalog excerpts.

Color Creation Guides: Arranged chronologically by approximate date, thereunder by guide title.

Printed and handwritten guides containing mixing ratios and instructions for the creation of paint colors. The individual entries in the guides are organized in two different manners, with the earlier guides arranged alphabetically by color name, and the later guides arranged numerically by color code. Also included among the guides are a limited number of interoffice memoranda.

Filed at the end of one of the handwritten guides is a sequence of memoranda pertaining to gold reclamation.

The "Color Mix Book" guide includes a 1954 memo entitled "Standard Procedure for the Application of Enamel Colors."

Color Application Guides: Arranged alphabetically by guide subject or title, thereunder chronologically by approximate date.

Printed and handwritten guides containing specifications and instructions for the application of paint colors, ivory and gold, as well as the application of acid for etching purposes. The individual entries within the guides are arranged alphanumerically by the pattern to which the color is being applied. Also included in the guides are a limited number of design sketches.

Filed at the beginning of one of the handwritten "Gold Print and Acid" guides are small-scale design sketches on tissue paper.