A Good Charlotte Rhead tube line painting bowl

Born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent in 1885. She came from a long line of potters. Her father, Frederick Alfred Rhead worked at Minton and her brother, Frederick Hurten Rhead became a famous pottery designer in his own right. Charlotte and her sister studied at the Fenton School of Art in the early 1900s.

After art school, Charlotte got a job at Wardle & Co. where her brother was working at the time. She became skilled at tube lining which is a process of squeezing a thin line of clay onto a pottery piece being decorated. It is like piping a line of icing on a cake. In this case, the clay is used to outline a design that is then colored in.