In the early decades of Arklow a combination of hand-painted and transfer techniques was used.
Ware that was to be hand-painted would be passed to the highly skilled girls of the decorating department where they set to work, carefully and quickly free hand-painted patterns to each piece.
The girls, often starting straight from school at aged 14, became specialised in their piece of the pattern – whether a flower, a leaf, a stem – before passing the piece on to be completed by colleagues.
The ware was then fired again using the Moore Campbell electric kiln.
