Rookwood Pottery was founded in 1880 by Marie Longworth Nichols. This company would not only be known as the first Art Pottery Company in the United States but as a driving force and inavator for many years to come. There were many companies that tried to emulate the Rookwood 'standard glaze' but all fell short, not because their work was necessarily bad but the Rookwood product was so good. The company remained in business until 1960 which means it was not only the company that started it all but was around to see the decline of the industry. In 1982 all molds records and rights to the trademark were purchased br Dr. Arthur Townley. He was proactive in protecting the trademark that there is very little 'fake' Rookwood around today.

A few years ago a company purchased everything and began manufacturing Rookwood Pottery, so the name lives on. For those interested in the new Pottery take a look at www.rookwood.com.

There has been so much written on Rookwood Pottery I doubt anything I could say would be of interest so instead I have added something I found long ago and stashed for future reference.

What follows is a period article on Rookwood - The language is 'funny' but gives an interesting insight into the period.

ROOKWOOD, ORIGIN OF THE INDUSTRY, ITS HISTORY AND TRIUMPH

Visitors to the Pan-American Exposition found among the myriad displays few more impressive evidences the unique exhibit of the now world-famed Rookwood pottery. Fresh from its victory at the Paris Exposition, where it obtained the highest honors in a competition that embraced all the great national factories and famous potteries of Europe and Japan, this beautiful ware is assured a like distinction at Buffalo. It will, consequently, interest our readers
to learn something of the origin of the industry and of the early effort which led in later years to such magnificent triumphs in the exclusive field of art pottery.

ORIGIN OF THE INDUSTRY:

Rookwood virtually owes its existence to Mrs. Bellamy Storer, a woman of wealth in Cincinnati, who was prompted to take up the work, of which the present plant is the outgrowth, by the Japanese ceramic display at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. Precious to that time she had painted on china and was especially interested she felt upon visiting the Japanese display, however, which determined her to make an effort to found a pottery in which experiments in native clays by native workers could be carried on with a view to the development of a distinctively American ware. This pioneer feminine worker and several other Cincinnati women who were associated with her to some extent had done more or less work in over-glaze porcelain decoration; but with a plan of new work laid out, they soon tried other processes of decoration under the glaze. Mrs. Storer's individual experiments in painting the unbaked clay were carried on originally in a pottery where granite was made. As the scope of the work gradually broadened, tests were made with all sorts of native clays found in Ohio and Indiana, which demonstrated many of these to be excellent quality.

The investigators eventually discovered that the heat at the graniteware factory was too intense for firing under glaze: and realizing the disadvantage under which Mrs. Storer was working, her father came forward and offered her the use of a building which he owned and which, after having been suitably refitted, became the original Rookwood pottery. For the past eleven years, however, Mrs. Storer has had no interest in the industry other than material solicitude for its welfare. All efforts form the start was in the direction of artistic achievement and no thought
was taken of financial consideration. One important line of experiments in 1877 and 1878 was in the application of color to the wet clay body. The color, diluted with slip-clay thinned with water-was applied with paint brushes as a decoration on the raw clay vase. The idea was to produce a new pottery of native American clays by applying color decoration in the material itself before firing, to make body and decoration a homogeneous mass in the first firing, and then to protect and enrich this biscuit with a glaze.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME, ROOKWOOD:

It may be of interest to note at this point that the name Rookwood which was given to the new pottery was that of a country place in the suburbs of Cincinnati, which was so designated because of the great number of crows which frequented the woods in the vicinity. The first kiln of ware was fired late in 1880; and the while attention was given principally to the manufacture of household and table ware from material possessing some of the best characteristics of both the cream-colored and white granite wares, there was always kept in view the ideal of ware which should possess individuality a and be as dissimilar to all existing pottery as possible. For a time breakfast and dinner services, and every imaginable class of ware, from plaques to water buckets, were produced; but as increasing degree of attention was given to the artistic development of the enterprise, the printing processes were abandoned, and the table wares ware succeeded by the elaborate decorative forms. For all that, it was not until 1889, or nine years after the establishment of the works, that the Rookwood pottery became self-supporting, a circumstance that came simultaneously with the award of a gold medal at the Paris Exposition held in that year.

The new Rookwood pottery was built in 1891 and it was quite as picturesque as the ware produced there. The building, which was perched on a hill that overlooked a goodly portion of the Cincinnati, was a large rambling structure in the early English style of architecture. It was of frame construction with tiled roof, and so arranged that the employees may gain the benefit of a maximum amount of light. The equipment of the plant was thoroughly modern in every respect, the kilns being fired with crude petroleum, which insures more satisfactory results. Special machinery was provided for mixing the clay, and there is kept on hand a vast assortment of molds of all kinds, although many of the most beautiful pieces of Rookwood was modeled by hand, the potter throwing up the clay by means of the old- fashioned wheel.

Practically no machinery, save the primitive potter's wheel, is used at the Rookwood plant in the actual work of manufacture, although, as has been stated, mechanical appliances are relied upon for the preparation of the clays. The men and woman whose genius has been responsible for the achievements of Rookwood have always contended that the wholly mechanical processes in molding restricted the variety of outlines in vessels; and, inasmuch as it is desired to have Rookwood pieces in the main variations of classics forms, and to furthermore have each distinguished by individuality of treatment, adherence has been held to the old method of manufacture.

PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE:

Although but one thrower was employed at the Rookwood works, he was not only able to work with wonderful rapidity, but he enjoys wonderful creative ability. He passes a piece of ware, when he has completed it to his satisfaction, to a turner, who employs a lathe operated by hand power to carefully trim off the surfaces. The casting method was employed only in the case of certain pieces, such as jars and pitchers which are of standard form, and which must be produced in considerable quantities. Even in this part of the work a method of ancient origin is utilized. The liquid clay is poured into a hollow mold and allowed to stand until the plaster has absorbed the superabundant moisture from the parts in contact. A thin shell of uniform thickness was thus formed and adheres to the mold when the more liquid portion was poured off. When the shell has remained in the mold a short time, it may be removed with safety. After a piece of ware had been shaped by the potter, or cast in the mold, it was, while still wet, painted with the mixture known as "slip," and then follows a light firing. The pottery specimen, which at this stage was known as "biscuit," was a soft, dull surface. The ware was then subjected to successive firings, and these may radically change its appearance. The workers know that, as a result of this fiery baptism, dull blue may change to gray, and certain shades of green may emerge as pink; but there was always the chance that a wholly unanticipated transformation will take place as the result of some peculiar combination of metals in glaze and clay effected during the firing. Following the application of the decoration, the piece was dipped in white glaze and sent to the kiln. The firing was, of course, a sort of crucial test, for a running of the colors or a defect in the glaze may play havoc with a specimen which is the potter's especial pride; moreover, there was the danger of breakage always to be considered. From the mixing of the clay to the withdrawal of the complete piece of ware from the kiln, a Rookwood specimen passes through the hands of twenty-one operatives.

CLAYS USED AT ROOKWOOD:

The great proportion of the clays used at the Rookwood pottery was found in the Ohio Valley, notably at Buena Vista, Ohio, and Hanging Rock, Ohio, and the predominant shades are red, brown and yellow. Of late the institution had also made use of mixtures from more southerly fields, including a white or cream colored clay from Chattanooga, Tenn., and a clay from Virginia, which when combined with artificially tinted bodies, gives the wonderful sea-green tint found in much of the Rookwood ware of more recent manufacture. It would be an error to infer that Rookwood is limited to a warm yellow or red tone, for even dark pieces have often been relieved with deep rich greens and blues, and there had been latterly developed an important series of light arrangements in pale blue, translucent greens, and even some fiery single-color reds. In all of these, however. were found the mellow tone and brilliant glaze characteristic of the ware. The Rookwood products might be divided into three general classes; the cameo, or shell-tinted ware; the dull-finished ware, characterized by the same dainty pin shading into white, by apparently unglazed; and, finally, the richly glazed ware. The distinguishing characteristics of these respective classes were found in the tinting and the blending of colors- efforts made possible by the heavy, transparent, colored glazes. Of the various bodies employed, one might be described as genuine earthenware. The principal body in use combines the properties of stoneware and semi-porcelain, a valuable quality, since the object of the artisan is to approach as near as may be to the point of perfect vitrification without endangering the underglaze colors. Apiece of Rookwood "biscuit," if well fired, possesses a vitreous ring, infinitely superior to that of earthenware, and will to all intents and purposes hold water, although absorbing the liquid to some extent.

The men and women who have directed the destinies of the Rookwood institution have endeavored in every way possible to cultivate individual artistic feeling on the part of employees. No mechanical means had been employed in the production designs, printing patterns being barred absolutely, and no two pieces of ware are like. All the artists of the Rookwood corps, with the exception of a Japanese, are natives of this country, and most of them have received their art education in Cincinnati. In pursuit of the policy of liberality heretofore mentioned, the conductors of the pottery have at various times sent their decorators to Europe and Japan, and the Rookwood artists were also permitted to initiate every piece of work turned out. Fully equal to the opportunities afforded the artists were those presented to the practical potters for the preparation of improved clay for the body, for beautifying the forms and studying the glazes.