MAIOLICA
Maiolica is a style of decoration using brightly colored designs that often cover the entire piece. It originated in the Mediterranean area of Spain hundreds of years ago. Italy produced a similar style called Faience, while Holland has Delft, which is done all in shades of blue and white.
Traditionally Maiolica pieces are made from a red earthenware, then glazed with a tin based glaze. The tin produces a beautifully opaque white glaze which covers the red clay, but allows a hint of the clay color to interact so that the opaque glaze takes on a very warm character. Today the high cost of tin has lead to the use of other materials for opacity.
The colors are produced from stains, which have already been fired and ground to a fine powder. This produces colors that remain very stable while being fired, and the pieces come out of the kiln looking very much as they did when they were put into the kiln. (This is quite unlike standard glazes, where there is often no similarity between the raw glaze and the fired colors.)
Before the piece is fired the artist takes brush in hand and, very much like doing watercolors, paints a design (geometric, flowers, scenery, etc.) directly on the dry glaze. This is not easy because dry glaze can be powdery and difficult to work on. The artist must be swift and sure, as every brushstroke shows, and correcting a mislaid stroke is quite difficult. Even a speck of stain, unseen to the naked eye, can produce an undesired spot of color in the fired glaze.