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The first generation toilets were characterized by the heavy use of color for decoration. Actually that should be no surprise as it was the same companies, such as Doulton and Twyford, that manufactured fine china or tile that brought to market the first ceramic toilets. Over one hundred years earlier, British potteries such as Josiah Wedgewood had developed a method of printing patterns onto ceramics, called color transfer printing, that would make hand painting tiles or fine china obsolete.
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The motifs used for waterclosets were similar to those used for dinner china: flowers, leaves, grapes and geometric patterns. This British loo, the Progress, uses flowers and leaves in brown and yellow. A restained yet elegant decoration that would appeal to a Victorian women.
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With color transfers, the designer could vary the colors in the same pattern and use them on different toilet models. This is the same color transfer as used on the Progress above but with more reds and blues.
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Small flowers and song birds in blue and pink.
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Same theme: flowers and leaves but in blue instead of pink. In fact, blue seems to be the color most popular.
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Flowers in a vase with a geometric pattern around the bowl rim. Geometric decorations on the rim and around the base of the toilet was also a popular design approach.
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It was not uncommon for some designers to decorate their waterclosets inside and outside completely in color, usually in blue. Most of the blue glazes used on these waterclosets were lead based which has since been found to be hazardous and ,therefore, no longer used. This is the extreme opposite of the unadorned modern toilet. It is doubtful the modern consumer would want decoration that is almost blinding.
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