Tole and One-stroke Painting

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The history of Tole Painting can be traced back to the 1700 and 1800's in the UK, the information is available in reference and archival works of the time. The main history, which I spent months researching in 1989 - 92 (before the net), is on the Traditional Tole History page.
For those interested in the historical aspect of One-stroke painting, I have added extra background information and resources on this site. The information also gives an excellent indication of the connection between pottery (one-stroke) painting and its use in decorating furniture, household articles, tea trays and canal boats.

One-Stroke painting was a skilled method of decorating large volumes of product effectively, taught in the Schools of Art for Pottery and Furniture decoration.
Traditional Tole Painting was painted using oil paint, the most readily available and long-lasting medium in the 1800s. It was also the only medium where the blending, double and triple loading of the one-stroke brush could be achieved with ease.

Here you can find various tole and one-stroke projects to try, some of which are very easy, some more complicated.
There are video clips and step-by-step articles, also links to other painting guides.
There are a variety of completed painting that give lots of details as to how they were painted. A section on gilding and how it was applied to work of the nineteenth century, with some examples of decorated furniture and tea trays.

There are few places that have good information on the history of one-stroke painting and its use in pottery and furniture decoration, most good reliable information is still in reference, archival, company books and documents.
The right surfaces, brushes, paint and tools can be hard to find, as can knowing how to make an old article usable for decoration.
This is a varied mix of sites you may find helpful when looking for products, surfaces, supplies and information, including videos, ebooks, pdfs, web sites and written works.

A wide cross section of images, from the old to the more recent, the different media that has been used and the variety of ways one-stroke painting has been utilized over time. Painting and decoration of articles from trays to tea pots and furniture to tin-ware.

Alongside most of the images are explanatory notes and information, it also follows a time perspective and shows how styles changed.