Black and White Spongeware Earrings

As I'm working with pottery shards in my jewellery, I think it's my duty to learn a little bit about  them. I get quite excited when I can identify an approximate date or type of decoration used.

The earrings I made today are from spongeware shards - pottery that was decorated by dipping a piece of natural sponge into colour, and dabbing it onto the pot. Some patterns were loose and irregular, but more specific patterns could be made by tying the sponge with a pieces of string to form shapes.

Originating in Scotland, spongeware was cheaper to produce than hand painted pieces, and sometimes children were given the job of decorating the pots.

Here are my shards from the Thames, the earrings I made this morning, and some samples of the kind of pots they might have come from.