Joan Brailsford – D
Doors and dishes
Inspiration: Doors of all sorts and ages which I have pictured at Middleport pottery buildings.
As I continue with my series based upon Middleport pottery, I decided to use the variety of doors of all kinds that can be seen there. There are worn and textured old doors that bear the scars of many knocks and scrapes, doors of odd shapes, and fancy doors with wrought iron-work and stained glass. As before, I have used photo collage by transferring the images on both cotton and sheer fabrics, and adding these to a cotton background. I also used images of dishes laid out in the factory shop.
Having made my photo arrangement, I created some doors with silk coccoon stripping on a blue scrim background, to imitate the texture of the old doors, and added those. I machine quilted the planks of the wooden door, and hand quilted the shapes in and around the other doors. I used the iron-work motif and the brick shapes to add interest and as part of the hand quilting, and used the shape of the bottle oven that I have included throughout the series.
Detail views:
Orgiinal photos:
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
very sophisticated joan. i am trying to picture what the long black line stands for…
The long black line is the outline shape of a bottle kiln which is used to fire the pottery and is part of the factory buildings
A wonderful combination of techniques and design.
Extraordinary and effective composition. Perfect continuation to your series. I really like it.
Lovely work, I really admire the way that you are getting so much information in one piece to really capture the ambiance of the Potteries. The inclusion of the bottle kiln and range of colours really pull your pieces together as a series.
Doors are a very interesting subject and your composition very well balanced. It really matches with your other pieces !
So much to explore looking at your piece, Joan! Your series tells a very interesting story of Middleport pottery.
It is simply amazing to see how effectively you capture (and preserve) the story of this factory, great job!
Your series is so interesting. The present piece is full of lovely details and needs close inspection to take it all in. Very impressed with your different techniques. The colouring is beautiful too. Love it!
Doors are fascinating and I have taken many photos of them during our travels. The textures you have created really keep one’s eye moving throughout your composition. It is wonderful!
As you know I am a door lover. It is just awesome how you combined all these beautiful old doors in one composition and how you created the texture of the doors. I so much love your Middleport pottery series.
Lovely! Very evocative of the area in its history. The colours are subtle and the collaged prints make such a detailed but gentle composition.
A very nice composition, beautiful colours. A wonderful next one of your series.
Beautiful piece. the composition is fantastic and the quilting gives so much life to the quilt. Beautiful.
So much detail in this beautifully collaged door composition. Love the texture, the quilting and the nostalgic feel. Well done!
Joan, what a lovely series you are creating. Love the idea to zoom in in all the doors. It is a great design, with so many details, you can look at it again and again. My compliments!