Enamelware

This is apropos of nothing, really, but I realise that it's been a while since I last posted, and there's no excuse, really, other than things are hotting up a bit at work; I've got plenty of photos and things to write about.

And today I am going to write about enamel; more specifically, domestic enamelware. I've always has a bit of a soft spot for it; its simplicity, unchangingness and evocation of another age. Also I think I just like it. I have been very pleased to see that Southern Railways have either gone back to, or are still, using enamel for their signs at stations (even if the usefulness of the signs themselves leaves something to be desired).

Anyway, I have a lovely brown enamel kettle for Chertsey, and I shall not rest until I have found an enamel teapot too (not hard, in fact, thanks to the nostalgie de boue retro-boom; I just have to select one) even though I shall probably never use it and they're not very practical anyway.

But at the Black Country Museum the other week I saw something I'd never seen or heard of before - two examples, in fact. See in the photo, that red and white tile effect on the floor under the fender - that's enamel. It's genius; it's gorgeous and I want one.