Creamware printers to Josiah Wedgwood by 1763, for example. By 1760 creamware was often enamelled for decoration, using a technique adopted from the early porcelain industry. This consisted of painting overglaze on the ware with pigments made from finely powdered coloured glass and then firing again to fuse the enamel to the ware. The varied enamel colours did not fuse at the same temperature so several firings were generally needed, adding to the expense. There were approximately 130 potteries in North Staffordshire during the 1750s, rising to around 150 by 1763 and employing up to 7,000 people – a large number
Creamware development of creamware. Wedgwood rebelled against the use of coloured glazes, declaring as early as 1766 that he was clearing his warehouse of coloured ware as he was ‘heartily sick of the commodity’. Wedgwood improved creamware by introducing china-clay into both the body and glaze and so was able to produce creamware of a much paler colour, lighter and stronger and more delicately worked, perfecting the ware by about 1770. His superior creamware, known as ‘Queen's ware’, was supplied to Queen Charlotte and Catherine the Great and later became hugely popular. There were few changes to creamware after about 1770