Featured Christmas Help: ID Flow Blue pattern

Eek, I am smart enough to tell you that I don’t know. From my admittedly limited experience I flash back to the whole “Blue Willow” vintage/repro craze in the 80s. Meaning that I like it, it’s pretty, it looks vintage, but as I view this piece I have no idea as to what particularly constitutes Blue Flow or not. (Double-check who told you it wasn’t Blue Flow and ask. People have been generous to me with advice and hard-earned wisdom and I’m sure they’d be willing to help you too.)

Another thought is that maybe the basket pattern in the design is more modern...? Also, from what I am learning, the almost blurry design doesn’t really blend into the rest of the cup at all. A major style difference like that usually means a repro. I’m hoping others with (more) knowledge will provide more info for us both.

 

I'd call it flow. Basically, it's simply an ink bleed.

 

Hi Brian and thanks for you post. I am not pixieforpapa but I'll take a stab at answering your question anyway. I believe your cup and saucer is regular transferware. Instead of hand painting, ink is applied to an engraved copper plate that has the design on it. That is imprinted onto to a paper template which is applied to the item. The paper template burns away during firing. Flow blue is characterized by the blurred edges created when the inked pattern bleeds irregularly during firing. Since your cup and saucer lack the characteristic blurry edged bleed, I believe they would be considered normal transferware.

When the color bleeds, it creates areas of light blue ghosting around the intended design. Like in this mark - see how the color has bled and created a light blue haze which causes the outside edges of the design to appear blurry?