Clarice Cliff to decorate some of the old defective 'glost' (white) ware in her own freehand patterns. For these she used on-glaze enamel colours, which enabled a brighter palette than underglaze colours. She covered the imperfections in simple patterns of triangles, in a style that she called 'Bizarre'. The earliest examples had just a hand-painted mark, usually in a rust coloured paint, 'Bizarre by Clarice Cliff', sometimes with 'Newport Pottery' underneath. To the surprise of the company's senior salesman Ewart Oakes, when he took a car load to a major stockist, it was immediately popular. Clarice was joined by young painter Gladys
Clarice Cliff 1930s. "Crocus" was unusual in that it was produced on both tableware, tea and coffeeware, and 'fancies', novelty items made primarily as gift ware. The pattern had many colour variations, including "Purple Crocus" (1932) "Blue Crocus" (1935), "Sungleam Crocus" (1935) "Spring Crocus". It was even produced after the war, the final pieces with "Clarice Cliff" marks being made in 1963, though Midwinter (who bought the factory) continued to paint it to order until as late as 1968. By 1929, Cliff's team of decorators had grown to a team of around 70 young painters, mainly women (called her 'Bizarre girls') but