Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The beauty of porcelain...


Porcelain can be imagined as a combination of clay and glass, with the strength of glass but the pliability of clay... It is made of clays that are whiter and more pure than stoneware clays, free of iron, titanium and other impurities that give stoneware clays their various colors and rougher textures... These impurities also interfere with the tightly interlocking crystals that grow as the substance is heated then cooled... Thus, porcelain forms a tighter, denser and more crystalline structure... This allows the passage of light where it is thin, although not all porcelain clay bodies have translucent qualities... Since the particles are much smaller, porcelain is much less forgiving and takes time to master on the wheel...

1 comment:

  1. I remember you holding the cups up to the light to show your waving hand through the clay. I show this to all my friends now who comment on the cup they are drinking out of.
    Alexandra

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