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Transport yourself with transferware

BY MARY CAROL GARRITY

I have a theory about how transferware got its name. Now, I'm well aware of the official story behind how this popular dishware earned its moniker: To make it, craftsmen engraved a flat copper plate with a detailed design, inked the plate and pressed the image onto tissue paper, which was then transferred to the ceramic piece.

But I like to think that transferware was so named because the intriguing scenes depicted on these popular dishes transfer you to another time and place. That's what used to happen to me every time I studied my great uncle's set of transferware dishes.

When I was a kid, I loved visiting my great-uncle, a widower who lived just up the street. I was mesmerized by his collection of transferware. Studying the plates was like opening a storybook. I imagined what was happening in the scene depicted on the dishware, and in an instant, I was gone, lost in the story.

Perhaps it's transferware's magical ability to transport us somewhere else that has made it a favorite through the ages. If you'd like to include this delightful dishware in your home decor, here's how.

Invite it to Dinner You can't beat transferware if you're trying to set a table full of character. The secret to making the tablescape special is not to use an entire matched set on the table but to mix up just a few pieces of transferware with a host of dissimilar dishes.

For instance, when I set my kitchen table for my open house this fall, I started the place setting with a rustic gray tray used as a placemat. Next, I used a cream dinner plate that featured a raised bird relief pattern. After that came a rust-colored majolica salad plate shaped like a fall leaf. On top sat a transferware soup bowl in a brown and white pattern featuring a peacock. For variation, you could use a cream-colored charger and a transferware dinner plate topped with a soup tureen shaped like a fall gourd.

When you combine a mix of dish patterns, colors and shapes, you encourage the eye to travel up and down the table, drinking in each new surprise. And, you buy a few key pieces of transferware instead of an entire set of dishes.

While I love transferware on my table, I don't confine it to mealtimes. I invite these fabulous dishes to shine in key spots throughout my house. Why not tuck a transferware teapot in your bookshelf display, use a transferware tray to hold the day's mail or fill a transferware bowl with seasonal fruits and place it at the center of your coffee table? Every time I visit my friend Gloria, I drool over the fabulous brown-and-white transferware she invested in when she was a young bride. She's pooled these show-stopping beauties together in one blockbuster display in her hutch. To keep the montage fresh, she brightens it up by adding seasonal touches, like sprays of foliage in the fall.

Want some awesome art for your walls? All you need is a transferware plate or platter and an inexpensive plate hanger, and you're in business. Sensational transferware has been adding life to my walls for decades.

Another friend of mine has decorated her walls with her enormous collection of blue and white transferware. The sunny yellow walls of her grand dining room are covered with a montage of blue-and-white china plates and platters. Some of the pieces are costly 18th century originals, and others are $5 garage-sale finds.

No matter what the pattern, color or age of your transferware, you can use it to add interest and intrigue to nearly every room in your home.

Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three successful home furnishings stores in Atchison, Kan., and the author of several best-selling books on home decorating. Write to Mary Carol at nellhills@mail.lvnworth.com.