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 were added by holding the piece upside down and painting thin lines amongst the flowers. Being made from the individual brushstrokes, the "Crocus" pattern was clearly completely hand-painted, and the vibrant colours instantly attracted large sales. Initially, Clarice had just one young decorator produce "Crocus", Ethel Barrow. But as orders flooded in by 1930 a separate decorating 'shop' was established underneath the top floor of the building which housed the 'Bizarre' shop, and Ethel became responsible for training young painters how to do the pattern. Twenty young women painted nothing but "Crocus" 5½ days a week, for much of the