The Making of the Texasware Mottled Melmac Mixing Bowl

Speckled Texasware Mixing Bowls from Etsy Shop Museum of Kitsch

Speckled and Spattered the Texasware Bowl Comes to Life

Thanks to this blog and my articles on Melmac on the web, I have heard from readers all over the world, and I have been fortunate enough to hear from the grandchildren of the owner of Plastics Manufacturing Company, who produced Texasware melamine dinnerware among other plastics.  "Gary Joy's" grandfather started the company, but dad also worked there, up until he passed in 1983.  The company was since sold but technically heir to the original owners, so pardon the reference.

"My grandfather started Plastics Mfg. Co. in Dallas in the late 40s - my father ran the company until his death in 1983. For many years it was the largest manufacturer of melamine dinnerware in the world, as well as the only plastic dinnerware sold at Neiman-Marcus! I worked in the outlet store while in college in the early 70s - Gary Joy "

In simple terms, back in the heydey, PMC was the BIG BOY of dish production. Smaller molders would buy melamine molding powders or melmac formula powders to mold plastic dishes; but not PMC! They were making their own powders and dishes. In technical terms, they were producing laminating paper, laminating resins, melamine moulding compounds, urea molding compound and 135 resin  of production to name a few circa 1979.

I will simply state that this simple story is a great example of America's industrialism and a family run business. Thank you so much for reaching out to me, my readers will love this story.

Pic: By U.S. Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Joy wrote that it was Granddad who started PMC in the late 1940's .  He had been manufacturing B17 bubbles during the war. We know that WW2 Dated 1939-1945 and in case you are wondering, this would be the gigantic Boeing B17 airplane (see aboved.

When Granddad switched to making tabletops for awhile, and finally mainstreamed into dinnerware, I wonder if perhaps this move would be the most profitable one at the time? Perhaps really, the most historical decision he ever made.   Every time I look at a Texasware dish now, I will wonder what possessed a man who was molding aircraft parts and laminated tables to dabble in the dishes?

The Making of the Texasware Mottled Mixing Bowl

When her father went to work for the Company, he was an innovator and she explains, "He did things other companies could not do. Dad took a bunch of scraps and made the first speckled bowl. He brought it home and Mom thought it was hideous. "

Poof , just like that, a speckled bowl was made.   Isn't that ironic, throwing a bunch of scrap pieces together and making history? Perhaps some of the best creations are made in error, or on the fly.  Texas Ware's mottled mixing bowls have become a collector's dream and I'm very thankful (for once) we have a man who didn't listen to his wife's opinion on style and design. These treasures may have never existed.

But Wait Who Was First?

Back in the day I was in a group of four friends and we vehemently discussed melmac and for the sake of journalism, our big discussion was who was first to market.  In this instance, I think it's important who was BEST to market.  I have seen early examples of Boontonware mixing bowls and later examples of Brookpark mixing bowls (closest in design and confetti mottling to Texasware-see below). Perhaps you will agree PMC / Texasware was known for these bowls.

Even more confusing, I see so many speckled, confetti, or spattered melamine dishes erroneously tagged Texasware, as there is a plethora of people who assume anything with speckles is called Texasware, which it's not.

Now granted, for the sake of unbiased reporting, I can't be certain this was "the holy grail" of speckling, and keep in mind this wasn't uncommon for employees at plastics plants or even companies to make "end of day" dinnerware with left over scraps. I've seen early examples of Beetleware with speckles plus a lot of glittery 50's flexible kitchen plastics.  I've written about Russel Wright's speckled melamine items circa 1953 and Northern Melamine's end of day wares, so we could get all technical on who put the first bit speck or stipple or mottle in the dish or in the plastic,  but we won't go there because who has time for that?

First mottle in plastic? I wouldn't be surprised if a defunct plastic molder made a sewing button and was first to spatter or speckle plastics, out of pure necessity and need for buttons hence, perhaps we will never know.

I'm simply discussing the magnitude of the design impact of Texas Ware Bowls.  So call it what you will, Spatterware , Speckled, Mottled, Confetti, or even Dabbled or Spotted, but you will not find anything as amazing. 

Look for yourself, anything similar to the Texasware in the bowls you see on this Etsy page or just so-so blazay-blazay spatters and speckle?

Above:  Speckled Melmac for sale on Etsy search term : Spatterware+Melmac 

Below we see Brookpark's examples and they look much like Texasware, only different being PMC's design was more footed and thicker on the bottom ridge.   See for yourself and would you agree that these bowls are simply stunning?

Retro Replacements has these for sale, look like TexasWare but they are Brookpark.

Texas Ware Bowl lovely at best.  Note the footed ridge. Found:  @mightyMODERN

Boonton's Mixing Bowl note, this is heavy mottling, most I have seen are less mottled and less prominent. This is a beauty found @PieInSkyVintage

I guess that's more about bowls that you want to know, but as someone famous once said there are no mistakes in life, just happy accidents. 

Thanks for reading!

Part Two Coming Soon   Wait for Part Two, where Gary Joy explains more about the Small Fry Originals...Coming soon....

I encourage sharing of my blog but please note if you wish to reference any part of this article you must adhere to my Content policy. Thanks.

Mottled Plastic, End of Day, Confetti and Swirled Melamine Designs Debunked by Melmac Central

Gorgeous swirls encompass this noteworthy poker chip holder as offered by AuRevoir of Seattle.

Ahhhh, look at the pretty plastics!   I love the beauty of the mottling or swirling together of the plastics during the vintage plastics molding process.  Not only are the below items fully functional, but the epiphany of good design!  I'm glad I have no more room for plastics, or my home would be full of these great items!  These next two items are exquisite.

The shakers are bakelite and I've seen them in every possible color except blues and whites.  A real steal from Australia , the original design probably dating to the 1930's era.  The seller's shop has great modern plastics design and should be looked at.   Below them is a cool retro desk organizer with metal teeth to cut your tape, that dates the items and to be honest, I've never seen anything like it.  Would be great for an artist to put their paint brushes in.

These old stacking bakelite shakers are from TheStyleCommandos.

A huge steal for $20 is this vintage desk organizer from Caraway Cache.

The item below is from NecktieParty at Etsy, and are the hard plastic type (bathroom cups), probably polystyrene--functional and no two alike none the less. These would be great at a summer picnic on the desk or lawn. This polystyrene is the same hard plastic which some of the old picnic plate sets were made of, the old Burrite pitchers and cookie jars, kitchen canisters, and even some salt and peppers.

Above and below mottled cups all for $22, a huge steal from NecktieParty shop in Philadelphia!

The cups were thin, so were most polystyrene items...but once in awhile you will find that polystyrene came in enter thicker plastics...I was shocked to find this huge salad bowl which I now have for sale in my Etsy store.

Large and sturdy mottled salad bowl in  Retro Chalet shop!

Gorgeous thick plastic bangle offered by ArtistiekEndeavors

Keep in mind the factories when swirling or mottling had to way to get the designs perfect.  This is so common with Bakelite jewelry, and you will find a plethora of it and still readily available for purchase.   Therefore, the imperfection often meant pieces not matching --this also meant that there are NO TWO ALIKE.  Isn't that awesome?  To know that these earrings below, if you owned them, are the only two of this particular kind of mottling in the entire universe...wow.

Vintage bakelite earrings from PrettyVintageJewelry are beautiful and functional.

Perhaps my love for mottling is why I have such a penchant for Russel Wright melmac and melamine dinnerware. For it was he who encompassed so many new techniques in the plastics way back when--in the Residential lines of the early 50's his standard colors were mottled, as shown in the aqua creamer below. Additionally he experimented with adding real "aluminum dust" to "Black Velvet" and "copper flecks" into his "Copper Penny" to enhance this process.

Molly's Closet is the place to go to get this great Russel Wright creamer.

Of course the mottling effect could happen a lot of ways.  Russel Wright's archives in Syracuse showed that he worked with the factory to show exactly how much white to add to the batch and at what thickness or gauge to do it.  This would allow for smaller or larger chunks of white showing in his designs, like above.  Rumors often circulating about the "end of day" designs have proven true in my research. Plastic factories first hand remember when at the end of a workday, the factory would try to use up the leftover molding colors. Such is true in some off-color designs that became quite popular by Russel Wright.  It is these accidentally-on purpose feats that have put some designs into play.

Take for instance these "end of day" Russel Wright designs, probably not approved by him, they were sold by Northern for quite some time due to their accidental popularity.  You will find them in blues, greens, and these tans.   I just acquired this great set as pictured by Ken Whittington, of North Carolina, who sells unusual plastics on HERE.

Often times there was more than one color incorporated in, and how much of what to add was a trade secret. I am quite sure TexasWare had their own recipes for their mixing bowls, often referred to as Confetti bowls because they contained so many different colors.   Each manufacturer experimented with the amount of stippling, mottling, and look of the plastics.  Take the example below, the Kysite company of Maine used to mold pulp, cellulose and paper into their dishes.  Nine out of ten will appear to have the same overall look and finish, this is because they knew exactly how much to add--that trade secret was priceless.

The Kysite factory had the process down to make all their dishes have this same stippled effect, this offered by vintagecreekside.

Then you have the pure and happy accidents, that never make it into production. Perhaps they are an artistic creation of an employee, a test design, or just a way of avoiding unused stock.  The production of these extraordinary found items exist and are often scoffed at by collectors.  However, I think they are even more rare because they weren't included in the original line. 

What the heck was this?  I may never know!  Offered by Marianne Clare Shop on Etsy.


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